New EO/IR capability featured on latest MH-60T delivery

On August 13, 2009, the Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate’s HH-60 Conversion and Sustainment Project, in conjunction with the Coast Guard Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) at Elizabeth City, N.C., delivered the fourth converted MH-60T Medium Range Recovery helicopter (tail number CG 6032).

CG 6032 is noteworthy because it is the first MH-60T equipped with a fully integrated Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Sensor System (ESS). The ESS, manufactured by FLIR Systems Inc., is a variant of their “Talon” commercial EO/IR sensor.

The ESS will provide aircrews with enhanced search capabilities to locate, identify, and track surface targets day or night; a critical capability for both search and rescue and law enforcement missions. In order to provide a common EO/IR sensor across the entire rotary wing fleet, the ESS will also be installed in the MH-65C “Dolphin”. MH-65C’s assigned to the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) have been successfully using the ESS to conduct counter-drug operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

CG 6032 is currently stationed at the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Ala., where it will be used for aircrew transition training and development of an ESS pilot course curriculum.

The MH-60T has already completed its first rescue mission off the North Carolina coast when on August 8, an aircraft on a training mission was diverted to assist a scuba diver suffering from symptoms of decompression sickness following a dive from a 30-foot boat off the coast of Wilmington, N.C. Using the MH-60T’s enhanced communications range and capabilities, the crew was able to facilitate early clearances into restricted airspace from air traffic controllers while maintaining radio contact with both Coast Guard Sector North Carolina and Air Station Elizabeth City.