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Lights out for LAMPS Mark III, as the SH-60B Seahawk enters retirement

By Vertical Mag | June 8, 2015

Estimated reading time 8 minutes, 14 seconds.

The SH-60B conducted its first operational deployment in 1985, now, 30 years later, the aircraft has reached retirement. 
After more than 30 years of continuous service, the Sikorsky SH-60B light airborne multipurpose system (LAMPS) Mark III “Seahawk” has reached its retirement. The helicopter has flown over every ocean and sea, supplying and protecting ships U.S. frigates, destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, and Coast Guard cutters, as well as the ships of U.S. allies. It has searched for submarines, ships and people, interdicted drugs off the U.S. coastline, and provided humanitarian aid around the world. 
The SH-60B squadron designation of “Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron, Light” (HSL) will be retired along with the “Bravos,” to be replaced with the Helicopter Maritime Strike (HSM) designation as the Sikorsky MH-60R completes it deployment. 
The SH-60B started as a highly modified variation of the U.S. Army’s UH-60A Black Hawk. Still, it maintained over 80 percent commonality with the Black Hawk, reducing design and operational costs. The main changes to the aircraft were to prepare it for naval operation, such as additional sealing and corrosion protection, the incorporation of a single crew door on the right side of the fuselage, and a 25-tube sonobuoy launch system on its left side. The tail landing gear was brought forward to allow the aircraft to fit aboard small ships, and to reduce its overall footprint, a rotor blade folding system and folding horizontal stabilators were added. Additional fuel bladders were added internally, allowing for substantially longer mission durations, reducing cabin space, and weapon pylons were added to both sides of the aircraft, for carrying torpedo and Hellfire missile launchers. Finally, the SH-60B’s engines were a more powerful version of the General Electric T700 turboshaft turbine.
Five YSH-60B Seahawk LAMPS III prototypes were ordered by the U.S. Navy, and the type’s first flight took place on Dec. 12, 1979. The first production version of the SH-60B flew on Feb. 11, 1983, and its first operational deployment took place during 1985.
The SH-60B LAMPS Mark III was deployed primarily aboard frigates, destroyers and cruisers, but also operated from carriers and amphibious ships when needed. Although the aircraft was a jack of all trades, its primary missions were surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. 
For these missions, the SH-60B carried a suite of sensors, including a towed magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), the cabin-launched sonobouys, the APS-124 search radar and the ALQ-142 electronic support measures system. 
Although the SH-60B was a jack of all trades, its primary missions were surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare.
Some SH-60Bs were modified with wing-mounted forward looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, with later versions relocating the FLIR to a nose mount. The aircraft also carried a wide variety of weaponry. Door mounted arms included the GAU-16 .50 caliber machine gun and the lighter M240 7.62-mm machine gun. The SH-60B could also carry AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for targeting small craft (both on water and land), as well as carrying torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare (including the Mk 46, Mk 50, or the Mk 54 variants).
The aircraft’s standard flight crew was one pilot, one co-pilot /ATO (airborne tactical officer), and an aviation warfare systems operator in the cabin. And, as the type approached its retirement, Vertical spoke with two former SH-60B pilots about their experiences flying the Bravo.
Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Douglas Russell had a 20-year career flying the SH-60B. “When I first saw the SH-60B, I was in flight school in Pensacola, Fla.,” he said. “I thought the Seahawk was the epitome of modern helicopter aviation. It had two engines, lots of power, high-tech computers and weapon systems that could reach out and touch the bad guys.”
Retired US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kevin T. Black, who recorded over 2,000 hours as a pilot of H-60 aircraft in the Navy, began learning to fly the Seahawk in 1992.
“Due to the tactical capabilities and complexity of the aircraft, the [training] was among the longest in the Navy,” he said. “Pilots had to both pilot the aircraft and operate the tactical systems, and learn the variety of warfare scenarios.”
Black’s operational experience with the SH-60B took in drug interdiction operations in the central Pacific, deployments to the Middle East during Operation Southern Watch, and flying as a check pilot for basic proficiency and instruments while with HSL-49. 
“It was highly unique in having a very capable data link, even by today’s standards; [a] good reliable radar; and an excellent FLIR system,” said Black. “The autopilot system was four-axis with some unique functions and a reliable altitude hold system, and when properly operated did a good job of keeping you out of the water at night and reducing the pilots workload.”
Black said the SH-60B’s level of performance — with what today seems like antiquated computer technology running the sensors — was a testament to the vision of those who designed and integrated the systems.
“We flew it as a solitary aircraft, up to 150 miles away from the ship, at night, thousands of miles from land or anyone other than our shipmates back on the ship, in nearly all weather, and it brought everyone home safe in excess of 99.9 percent of the time,” said Black.
Russell also paid tribute to the Bravo’s reliability. “There were times when it brought me back to the boat when other helicopters wouldn’t have,” he said. “The reason why so many crews made it back home was due to the incomparable training the Navy provides its pilots and aircrew, stacked on top of a first-rate aircraft with unparalleled capabilities. How else can you explain the [SH-60B’s] tens of thousands of successful approaches to the back of a destroyer or frigate, bobbing around in the dark in high sea state conditions?”
Although the aircraft has now reached the end of its service, Russell said its legacy will continue to be felt by future generations of aircrew. “Today’s naval aviators are better trained and better equipped than my generation of LAMPS guys ever were — they are smart, articulate, and true go-getters,” he said. “But these new guys didn’t get there all by themselves. They owe much of their success to the hard work of their predecessors, and the lessons learned by their LAMPS and LAMPS Mark III ancestors. Today’s MH-60R and MH-60S variants have the benefit of the SH-60B lineage. We learned a lot from the old girl. She’s earned her retirement.”

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