Seahawk selected as the next maritime helicopter for the mission of’detecting and destroying North Korean submarines’

Lockheed Martin’s MH-60R (Seahawk) selected as the Navy’s next maritime helicopter.-Lockheed Martin’s Sea Hawk (MH-60R) was selected as the second type of maritime operational helicopter that will perform detection and destruction missions for North Korean submarines. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced on the 15th that it had held the 32nd Defense Project Promotion Committee (Bangchu Committee) presided over by Secretary of Defense Seo-wook and made this decision.

The second project of maritime operational helicopters is to purchase helicopters from overseas that have long-distance surface and underwater detection and anti-ship and anti-submarine attacks. After signing a contract with Lockheed Martin within this year, the military plans to introduce 12 Seahawks by 2025 with a total project cost of 960 billion won.

The Sea Hawk is equipped with a maximum of 10 tons of equipment, including 25 sonobuoys and 2 torpedoes, and can perform anti-submarine missions for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. It is in operation in the US, Australia, Denmark, and Saudi Arabian Navy, and signed a contract to introduce Christ with India this year. A military official said, “The reason for the selection is that the aircraft is larger and has better performance than the European-made’Wildcat (AW-159)’, which was introduced as the first maritime helicopter project in 2013.” On this day, the fugitive committee also decided on a basic strategy for promoting the introduction of a minesweeper (mine search and removal trap), which will invest 1.8 trillion won between 2022 and 2035. In addition, by 2026, a decision was made to improve the performance of the Air Force F-15K fighter jets, including anti-jamming (avoidance of radio disturbances), spending 300 billion won.