The introduction of the MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopter into service has marked an evolution in capability for the RAN.
Significantly it provides the fleet with enhanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability in the form of its dipping sonar system, a capability lost to the Fleet Air Arm in the early 1990s when the now-retired Sea King helicopter was re-roled from ASW to utility support helicopter work.
The Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky MH-60R replaces the RAN’s S-70B-2 Seahawk, which will finally be retired at the end of the year, after 27 years of operational service. There have already been a number of Romeo deployments to the Middle East Area of Operations and the final Bravo flight to deploy there arrived home aboard HMAS Arunta in late July.
There are now two FAA squadrons flying the Romeo; 725 Sqn is responsible for training and 816 Sqn is the operational support squadron. With six of the eight flights having now stood up, Navy remains on track to achieve Final Operational Capability (FOC) for the MH-60R capability at the end of next year.
Australia’s Romeos
All 24 Romeos have been delivered and are in operational service, representing an acquisition project (Air 9000 Phase 8) that has delivered a largely military off the shelf (MOTS) capability on time and on budget.
Australia’s MH-60Rs are almost identical to their US Navy brethren but there are a handful of modifications to meet sovereign requirements. Specifically, these include a VOR/ILS; Automatic Dependent Surveillance –Broadcast (ADS-B); Voice Recorder (incorporated into the Crash Recorder); off-aircraft Acoustic Conversion System (for acoustic data commonality with the RAN’s acoustic systems); additional Link 16 Tactical Data Link Message sets; Variable Message Format (VMF, for communication with Land assets), and a low-power beacon installation, which will allow use of the ASIST deck recovery system on the RANs new DDGs (Air Warfare Destroyers) in the automatic modes.
The primary acoustic sensor is the AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS, a Thales FLASH sonar integrated into the helicopter by Raytheon) and the radar is a Telephonics APS-147 Multi-Mode Radar. The Electronic Support Measure (ESM) system is a Lockheed Martin’s ALQ-210 subsystem, providing 360º coverage; and the Raytheon AAS-44C Multi-spectral Targeting System (MTS), which provides long-range surveillance, target acquisition, tracking, range finding and laser designation of laser guided munitions.
Weapons include up to three USN-standard Mk.54 lightweight torpedoes and up to eight Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on extended weapons pylons. Self-protection is provided by either a .50cal machine gun or 7.62mm GPMG mounted in the cabin doorway.
The RAN’s aircraft are also fitted with the US Navy’s Ku-band HawkLink Tactical DataLink, but the surface ships have not been modified and this capability remains an option for the future, when the DDGs (at least) are docked for their initial maintenance periods.
The DDGs also lack the full suite of modifications for the integration of Romeo, although these will not preclude embarkation, once the first of class flight trials are completed early next year. These modifications include minor changes to the air weapons magazines to accommodate the Hellfire, some minor changes to storage spaces and modification of the ship’s external lighting to be NVG compatible.
ASW capability
The MH-60R is a different concept to the older Seahawk it replaces; the Bravo was known as a Role Adaptable Weapons System (RAWS), which was able to change roles from warfare to afloat logistics support, whereas the Romeo is designed from the outset as a naval combat helicopter.
“In the Navy context we see the helicopter as an extension of the ships’ sensors and weapons systems, so the advantage that the Romeo provides us is that we have the latest generation military combat helicopter embarked on our ships, capable of conducting a wide range of anti-surface and anti-submarine activities and it extends the sensor fit to the ship,” Captain Grant O’Loughlan, Director Aviation at Navy Strategic Command explained to ADM.
“For us it has brought a quantum leap in both ASW and ASuW capability, we have increased the effectiveness of our embarked aviation at sea through this procurement, and the other benefit is that we’ve bought into the broader US Navy system - there’s literally hundreds of Romeos in service - which we can draw upon to ensure that we can maintain the capability going forward.”
With regard to the enhanced ASW capabilities of the Romeo, CAPT O’Loughlan said that a dipping sonar puts a lot more energy into the water and detection rates are therefore theoretically greater.
“You can continually dip it in and take it out of the water wherever you like, so you’re not expending anything. With sonobuoys you can operate until you run out of them and then you have to come back; but with a dipping sonar you can put it in the water, chase a submarine and continually hunt it with a greater level of power and ability to detect it. It changes the ASW game considerably and it provides an increased level of complexity for the submarine commander to counter,” he said.
“If you have a couple of dipping sonar helicopters out there, once you’re in contact it makes it a lot harder for the submarine commander, it provides another tactical issue for them to deal with, because your detection ranges are greater than they are with a static sonobuoy in the water.”
Operational support for the fleet
As the Operational Support squadron for the fleet, 816 Squadron’s primary task is to generate a number of Flights, which embark in the Anzac and Adelaide class frigates and in the near future they will take the Romeo to sea aboard the first of Navy’s three DDGs, HMAS Hobart (see P72 for more on HMAS Hobart).
A normal ships’ flight is made up of one helicopter and 19 personnel, comprising two crews (Pilots, Aviation Warfare Officers and Sensor Operators) and 13 maintenance personnel.
“In the mature state we’ll have we’ll have eight Romeo Flights at sea and we currently have five. We do have the aircraft and personnel for the sixth flight here, but they are not due to go to sea until the first quarter of next year. So essentially we’re on track, in terms of delivering flights, with the seventh flight coming mid next year and then the eighth at the end of the year,” Commander Anthony Savage, Commanding Officer of 816 Sqn explained to ADM.
“Our main focus is providing parenting and standardisation support to those flights and we’re responsible for all warfare and tactical development of the Romeo fleet.”
CMDR Savage describes the Romeo as arguably the best maritime combat helicopter in the world, in terms of both ASW and ASuW.
“Its ability to operate in the networked environment with Link 16 and the sensors we have are a significant leap from the Bravo,” he said.
Although it has been many years since the Fleet Air Arm was proficient in dipping sonar operations, CMDR savage said the rebuilding of the capability has progressed relatively smoothly and that crews are now proficient in the art.
“We already had a good ASW concept with the Bravo using sonobuoys, just not in the dipping sense, but the transition has not been as challenging as we initially thought, because those other skill sets already existed,” he explained. “The US Navy has been outstanding in providing us with their training, tactics and procedures and for the most part, the challenge has been integrating that back into our surface fleet, in terms of the effect they’re trying to achieve with the helicopter.
“The challenge we have is ensuring that we continue to practice and develop that capability. Our currency system is set up around improving our warfare skills as well as the underlying basic skills, in terms of managing equipment in the aircraft.”
The squadron will also provide aircraft, maintainers and some aircrew to Navy’s Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit (AMAFTU), to support first of class flight trials in HMAS Hobart, beginning later this year.
Training
One of the key milestones on the road ahead to FOC at the end of next year will be the standing up of the eighth ship’s flight, and the training output to support that event is the responsibility of 725 Squadron.
The squadron was formed to support the Romeo’s introduction to service and performed the initial training and workup alongside the US Navy in Florida. Once the squadron transitioned back to Australia in early 2015, it assumed responsibility for the first two ships’ flights at sea while 816 Sqn began its own transition to the MH-60R.
Today it is responsible for training Romeo crews at Nowra, using computer-based training, synthetic training aids (including two full-motion Tactical Operational Flight Training Simulators supplied by CAE) and the live aircraft.
Although based on the US Navy MH-60R training syllabus, the RAN has a different crew model and therefore local training has evolved to meet these unique requirements. The US Navy operates with two pilots, together with a Sensor Operator (SENSO) in the cabin, whereas Navy’s model is for a single pilot, an Aviation Warfare Officer (AvWO) in the left hand seat and the SENSO in the cabin.
“The US Navy uses the HawkLink system, which allows them to see what the helicopter is looking at from the ship and then they process the data off-board, so they do tend to employ their Seahawks slightly differently,” 725 Sqn Commanding Officer, Commander Matt Royals explained to ADM. “Whereas our crew model allows for the processing to be conducted onboard the helicopter, hence our AvWO is the mission commander and the SENSO works with them to do the analysis.”
The operational tempo of the surface combatants and trying to schedule a deck to conduct training from can be problematic, however the commissioning of MV Sycamore, Navy’s Multi-Role Aviation Training Vessel (MATV) will in time ease this burden.
“We will operate Romeos off the MATV in due course but the focus will initially be the Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS),” CMDR Royals continued. “But in the next year we hope to be able to achieve deck landing qualifications on it. It is a challenge to get a fleet unit, they’re all pretty busy, but a key part of our training is to make sure we can land and take off from a small moving deck.”
CMDR Royals said his responsibility is for the steady-state training throughput of 10 pilots, 10 AvWOs and 10 SENSOs per year.
“We have recently hit the stable-point at 725 Sqn and from here on we like to call ourselves the schoolhouse, because that’s what we’re here to do, our focus is on training,” he said. “We’ve established a schoolhouse that is world-class, using a mix of computer-based training, simulation and flying to meet the fleet output required for both aircrew and maintainers.”
This article first appeared in the October 2017 edition of ADM.