S
ea Kings rst entered service
with the Royal Navy in the late
1960s. In addition to deployment
on 4 aircraft carriers, 2 Tiger
Class cruisers and Royal Fleet Auxiliaries,
they replaced the Wessex as the standard
Commando helicopter. The Sea King
played a pivotal role in the Falklands
con ict in Commando, Anti-Submarine,
Search and Rescue and replenishment
roles, and via an Urgent Operational
Requirement, as an Airborne Early
Warning & Control variant (known as
‘Baggers’ due to its in atable radome).
Electro-optical and Infrared (EO/IR)
imaging is an essential tool to support SAR
services. Although FLIR supported UK SAR
services with turrets tted to the Sikorsky
S-61, FLIR’s initial involvement with the Sea
King was in 2003 when the FLIR Star-Q®
was selected to equip the RAF eet of
22 Sea King MkIIIs. The availability of IR
transformed the capability of the aircraft,
particularly at night. Involvement increased
with the selection of the FLIR Star SAFIRE®
III for Royal Navy SAR Sea Kings which
also used the equipment for maritime
counter terrorism (MCT).
FLIR’s commitment to Sea King and
SAR continued from that date, and FLIR is
honoured to be associated with the transition
of SAR services from military to civilian
operation.The change of
philosophy towards
privatisation and
with the Sea King
approaching the end
of its life, resulted in
a competition for which
Bristow Helicopters was
selected to provide the UK
SAR service with a combination
of Sikorsky S-92 and AgustaWestland
AW189 aircraft.
Bristow selected FLIR’s highest
speci cation turret, the Star SAFIRE®
380-HD, for all its new UK SAR aircraft. In
addition to the best multispectral sensors
available, Bristow selected the MERLIN™
video analytics tool. MERLIN™ recognizes
and highlights moving objects at pixel level
based on user-con gurable parameters,
providing wider elds of view with better
detection rates. Aircraft can then cover more
area faster and from greater altitude for
safer, more effective operations. Operators
are automatically alerted, even if the objects
are as small as a single pixel.
SAR operations were not limited to the
UK. Since the 1982 con ict, the RAF has
maintained a Sea King SAR capability
on the Fal kland Islands. With Sea Kings
leaving service in 2016, a separate
competition was launched for the provision
of SAR services on the Falkland Islands,won by the team
comprising AAR
Airlift and British
International
Helicopters.
The service will
be provided by
AgustaWestland
AW189 SAR and Sikorsky
S-61 helicopters. The FLIR Star
SAFIRE® 380-HD turret was selected
for these aircraft.
An independent audit of UK SAR
operations showed that FLIR achieved
99.95% operational availability. Both
Bristow in the UK and AAR in the Falkland
Islands have committed to similarly high
levels of availability. A modern SAR aircraft
is unserviceable without its EO/IR sensor.
Accordingly, FLIR has contracted to meet
these onerous availability requirements, on
a 24/7, 365 days per year basis.
FLIR is both honoured and proud to
continue its supply and support of EO/
IR sensors in support of both the UK and
Falkland Islands’ SAR programmes. In
addition, FLIR will be looking to resurrect
its annual trophy for Outstanding SAR
Achievement. FLIR would strongly support
the trophy being awarded to civilian
recipients in future and looks forward to
supporting with Bristow and AAR/BIH to
achieve this.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 39FLIR Systems is proud to be
associated with the long history of
service of the Sea King helicopter.
ADVERTORIAL
39_FLIR AdvertorialV2DC.indd 39 07/01/2016 14:26