Lockheed Martin has been awarded US Navy development contract to provide MH-60 helicopters with enhanced electronic warfare surveillance and countermeasure capabilities against anti-ship missile (ASM) threats. Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) Active Mission Payload (AMP) AN/ALQ-248 system, is a self-contained EW pod hosted by an MH-60R or MH-60S, which provides the Navy with ASM detection and response capabilities.

The AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 can work independently or with the ship’s onboard electronic surveillance sensor to detect an incoming missile and then evaluate where it is going. AOEW then uses radio frequency countermeasure techniques to deter the missile. 

Under this contract, if all options are exercised, Lockheed Martin will deliver up to 18 AOEW AMP AN/ALQ-248 pods to the US Navy.  Manufacturing of the systems is slated to begin in early 2019 to meet the program’s 2021 initial operational capability goal.