Submarines: March 31, 2001

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The Royal Australian Navy is currently upgrading its sixteen S-70B-2 SeaHawk anti-submarine helicopters with additional equipment including forward looking infrared scanners, electronic support measures (which detect and classify enemy radars), and a missile countermeasures dispenser (which drops chaff and flares). This will be completed in Sept 2003. The Australians then want to move ahead with an aggressive Mid-Life Upgrade program to keep the SeaHawk fleet up to current standards. A special study will be launched in 2003 to determine what new technology might be available, cost-effective, and useful.--Stephen V Cole