MH-60S underpowered for MCM towing operations, report finds

The US Navy's (USN's) future airborne mine countermeasure (AMCM) MH-60S helicopter is unable to tow the minehunting sonar or minesweeping system forming part of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mine countermeasures module (MCM) mission module, the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) revealed in his annual report, released 15 January.

"The navy determined the MH-60S helicopter cannot safely tow the AN/AQS-20A Sonar Mine Detecting Set (AQS-20A) or the Organic Airborne Sweep and Influence System (OASIS) because the helicopter is underpowered for these operations," read the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Fiscal Year 2012 report from DOT&E, Dr J Michael Gilmore.

"The MH-60S helicopter will no longer be assigned these missions operating from any ship, including LCS," it added.

Speaking to IHS Jane's on 15 January, a USN official said the navy found that the MH-60S had insufficient power to operate the AQS-20A sonar safely: in the event of an engine failure, the helicopter would not be able to recover the sled and risk the crew in the process. The problem was made worse in the US Central Command region based in Bahrain; in the high air temperatures found in the Gulf, the aircraft operates at maximum capacity with an extremely small margin of error, risking the loss of aircraft and crew in the event of a single engine failure.

The MH-60S will still execute some of the MCM missions for LCS, conducting near-surface minehunting with the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System and providing mine neutralisation capability with the Airborne Mine Neutralization System, navy officials told IHS Jane's .

The bulk of the volume LCS minesweeping duty will fall to the Remote Minehunting System, an AQS-20A paired with the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle, a semi-submersible unmanned vehicle.

Captain John W Ailes, programme manager for LCS Mission Module Integration, told reporters during a 16 January briefing at the 2013 Surface Navy Association Symposium that there were no plans to deploy the AQS-20A sonar system with the navy's current fleet of MH-53E Sea Dragon AMCM helicopters.

Responding to the DOT&E report, Capt Ailes said the programme had decided to exclude the MH-60S from the AQS-20A mission a year ago.

The USN now plans to introduce an Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) for Increment 3 of the MCM mission package for LCS. A draft request for proposals for the UISS engineering development phase was released by the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in December 2012. This follows an earlier prototyping phase led by NAVSEA.

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