Lockheed Martin has chosen Thales to provide airborne surveillance and control capability for the U.K. naval forces’ new Merlin airborne surveillance helicopters.
Thales said Friday it received the Merlin ASaC subcontract for the company’s Searchwater radar and Cerberus mission system, which will be installed on the helicopters.
The technology will work to protect the U.K. navy’s aircraft carriers as well as the joint forces, Thales’ U.K. CEO Victor Chavez said.
Merlin will replace the Sea King ASaC helicopters by 2018 and include system updates such as new data processing functions, a human machine interface and built-in training features, Thales said.