Thales surveillance system selected for Royal Navy’s new Merlin airborne surveillance helicopters

Following an industry competition, Lockheed Martin, who act as the Ministry of Defence’s prime contractor for the Merlin helicopter have selected a new generation of the Thales Searchwater radar and Cerberus mission system to be fitted to specially adapted Merlins to provide the Navy with an airborne surveillance and control capability (ASaC).

The fleet of Merlin helicopters will replace the Royal Navy’s outgoing Sea King Mark 7 ASaC force which is fitted with an earlier version of the Searchwater and Cerberus systems.

The new capability will enter operational service in 2018 when the last of the Sea King ASaC helicopters are retired.

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