Finmeccanica
– AgustaWestland and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) are pleased
to announce the delivery of the first Airborne Mine Counter Measures
(AMCM) equipped MCH-101 helicopter to the Japan Maritime Self Defense
Force. The KHI MCH-101, a licence built version of the AgustaWestland
AW101 helicopter, is equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/AQS-24A airborne
mine hunting system and the Northrop Grumman AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser
Mine Detection System (ALMDS). Together these systems provide a complete
surface-to-bottom mine detection capability. The AW101/MCH-101 is one
of only two helicopter types capable of towing the AN/AQS-24A and the
only modern helicopter type. |
The development
of the AMCM variant of the AW101/MCH-101 has been led by Kawasaki Heavy
Industries, as prime contractor, with AgustaWestland providing technical
support. KHI has responsibility for system integration and design of
the AN/AQS-24A carriage, deploy, tow and recovery system that is installed
in the cabin. AgustaWestland in addition to providing technical support
also modified the aircraft’s Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS)
to be able to perform coupled towing patterns with the AN/AQS-24A.
Following the handover ceremony at Kawasaki’s Gifu factory on
27th February, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force aircraft was delivered
to Iwakuni where it will perform evaluation trials with the 51st Experimental
Squadron before entering operational service in 2016.
The AN/AQS-24A is the only operationally proven, high speed airborne
mine hunting system in the world. It features a high-resolution, side
scan sonar for real time, detection, localization and classification
of bottom and moored mines at high area coverage rates and a laser line
scanner to provide precision optical identification of underwater mines
and other objects of interest.
The AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) uses pulsed
laser light and streak tube receivers housed in an external equipment
pod to image the entire near-surface volume potentially containing mines.
The ALMDS pod is mounted on the port weapon carrier and data is displayed
on the cabin mission console.
The first AMCM configured is the eighth of 13 AW101s that Kawasaki Heavy
Industries is building under licence from AgustaWestland for the Japan
Maritime Defense Force. The eight aircraft delivered to date comprise
six MCH-101s and two CH-101s. The CH-101s are used to support Japan’s
Antarctic research activities. |
