Northrop Grumman said on Monday it won a contract from Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd.
(KAI) to provide Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) parts and support for the engineering, manufacturing and design phase of South Korea’s new Korean Mine Countermeasures Helicopter (KMCH) program.
The company said it expected the EMD phase of the program to be finished by 2027.
The AN/AES-1 ALMDS is a pod that uses pulsed laser light and streak tube receivers to detect, classify and localize floating and near-surface moored mines and is untethered with day and night operations. They image the near-surface volume that potentially contains mines.
The company argued these features allow high search rates and provide accurate target geo-location that helps support follow-on mine neutralization efforts once they are detected.
The U.S. Navy uses the ALMDS as part of the Littoral Combat Ship’s mine countermeasures (MCM) mission package via the MH-60S Seahawk helicopter.
The ALMDS pod is attached to the U.S. Navy MH-60S via a standard bomb rack and data is stored on a memory unit for post-mission analysis.
“KAI is convinced that the ALMDS integration will make a significant improvement to the Republic of Korea’s Navy mine detection capabilities. The program will also enhance our strategic partnership with Northrop Grumman in the defense domain,” Chang-heon Han, executive vice president of the rotary wing division at Korea Aerospace Industries, said in a statement,
“Our strategic partnership with KAI to bring ALMDS technology to the KMCH program builds on our decades of commitment to deliver advanced solutions that support the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of National Defense,” said Janice Zilch, vice president, multi-domain command and control (MDC2) programs, Northrop Grumman.
The Navy’s declared initial operational capability for the ALMDS alongside the RTX [RTX] Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS) for the LCS MH-60S MCM capabilities back in 2017 (Defense Daily, Jan. 5, 2017).