Seapower - August 2009

Jayhawk Facelift
Upgrades expand capabilities of Coast Guard’s H- 60 helicopter

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

MH-60T Assumes the Alert

The Airborne Use-of-Force (AUF) program, designed to give the Coast Guard’s entire helicopter fleet armament for counterterrorism and drug-interdiction missions, is being incorporated in Jayhawks as they go through maintenance, and gives the “M” — for “multimission” — in the MH-60J or MH-60T designation.

The AUF modifications include mounts for an M240B 7.62mm machine gun and a .50-caliber Precision Fire Weapon, the latter intended to disable boat engines. An ammunition-collection system gathers spent cartridges.

AUF includes satellite communications and new radios that improve communications with police and fire department units on scene. A video- and voice-monitoring and recording system is incorporated for the service’s law-enforcement and fisheries-protection roles for evidence collection and training, Menders said.

The avionics upgrade centers on the Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS), developed by Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The CAAS is a “glass cockpit” that features digital liquid-crystal displays, among other improvements.

The digital displays of the CAAS will represent a great increase in capability over the older monochrome displays on the HH-60J. CAAS includes five full-color MFD-268C3 6-inch by 8-inch active-matrix liquid-crystal displays that are compatible with night-vision goggles. Also featured are two CDU-7000 control display units, which also are being installed on the service’s H- 65 Dolphin helicopters, adding the economic advantages of commonality.

CAAS takes information from two embedded Global Positioning System/inertial navigation units and “uses those together with a pilot-defined flight plan to provide fully automatic navigation for the aircraft, including search-and-rescue patterns,” said Dan Toy, principal marketing manager for mobility and rotary-wing solu-

A major upgrade program for the Coast Guard’s H- 60 Jayhawk will expand capabilities and extend the service life of the 20-year- old helicopter.

■ Upgrades add armament and improved sensors and reduce readiness degraders.

■ Rockwell Collins’ “glass” cockpit increases situational awareness.

■ The Jayhawk fleet life will be extended to 2027.

Next month will mark the initial operational capability milestone for the Coast Guard’s newest helicopter version, the MH-60T Jayhawk. The modernized Jayhawk will assume the watch at Coast Guard Air Station, Elizabeth City, N.C., as the first operational aircraft of 42 such eventual conversions.

The MH-60T is an upgrade of the Sikorsky-built HH-60J and MH-60J Jayhawk that have served as the Coast Guard’s primary medium-range search-and-rescue helicopters since 1990.

The Coast Guard acquired 42 HH-60Js. Normally, 35 are kept in operational status at eight air stations and seven are in programmed depot maintenance at the service’s Air Logistics Center at Elizabeth City. One was lost in a mishap in 2004 but is being replaced by a Navy SH-60F that is being converted to the MH-60T configuration under a $15 million allocation in 2007 from Congress.

The upgrade of the Jayhawk fleet involves a three-pronged modernization program at Elizabeth City, said Capt. Doug Menders, aviation program manager for the Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate.

A Service-Life Extension Program — begun in 2005 — involves extensive refurbishment of the airframe, including replacement of 80 percent of the electrical wiring and several fittings and structures. He said work will lengthen the service life of the fleet to 2027.