Lockheed Martin eyes electronic warfare (EW) aboard helicopters to defend against anti-ship missiles

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. – U.S. Navy surface warfare and missile defense experts are asking Lockheed Martin Corp. for help in building and fielding helicopter-based long-range electronic warfare (EW) systems to protect Navy surface ships from existing and future advanced anti-ship missiles.

Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced a $14.8 million order last week to the Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems segment in Liverpool, N.Y., for systems engineering for the AN/ALQ-248 Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) Active Mission Payload (AMP) system for the MH-60R and MH-60S ship-based maritime helicopters. Lockheed Martin will deliver two AOEW AN/ALQ-249 pods with spares and support.

AOEW will provide long-endurance, off-board electronic countermeasures against current and future anti-ship missiles with a long-duration EW active mission payload for the MH-60R and MH-60S ship-based maritime helicopters.

The AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 can work independently or together with the ship’s onboard AN/SLQ-32(V)6 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 2 to detect an incoming missile and then evaluate where it is going, Lockheed Martin officials say. AOEW then uses radio frequency countermeasure techniques to deter the missile.

Related: Lockheed Martin to begin installing electronic warfare (EW) avionics aboard Navy helicopters

One of the goals of the AOEW program is to detect and counter threats to provide enterprise electronic warfare to protect for the Navy Fleet. Lockheed Martin won the industry competition to develop and build the AOEW system in early 2016.

Lockheed Martin won a $17.8 million order in October 2021 to build low-rate initial production units of AOEW AMP system. The company was asked to deliver two AOEW AN/ALQ-249 pods with spares and support.

Although initial AOEW prototypes are to be installed on MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters, future deployable versions may be intended for long-range, long-endurance fixed-wing or helicopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), experts say.

Related: DRS Laurel to build missile-defense radar systems to protect Navy surface warships from anti-ship missiles

Lockheed Martin will develop a modular open-systems architecture (MOSA) to enable the EW payload to adapt to evolving threats, hasten deployment, reduce development time and costs, and facilitate future system upgrades and technology insertion.

The AOEW program capitalizes on Lockheed Martin expertise across the corporation. The Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, N.Y., will integrate the system onto the MH-60 helicopters, which are built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company in Stratford, Conn.

On this order Lockheed Martin will do the work in Syracuse, N.Y., and should be finished by November 2023. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems online at www.lockheedmartin.com, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.