HELRAS

HELRAS or the Helicopter Long Range Active Sonar is a naval helicopter undersea sensor, a dipping sonar (a form of towed array sonar), deployed by helicopters of many naval air forces around the world to detect submarines; it is a form of geophysical MASINT.

History

HELRAS was first developed in the 1970s by Bendix, FIAR and British Aerospace.^[1] Another rival system was called FLASH (Folding Light Acoustic System for Helicopters). In the 1980s, the system was supplied by Bendix.^[2]

A competitor of HELRAS is the Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS).

Capability

It can detect submarines up to 60NM.^[3]

Manufacture

Parts for the system are made by Rolls-Royce North America.^[4]

Deployment

The system has been fitted to EH101, S70B, NH90, CH-148, AS532SC, AB412, and AS565 with helicopter of navies such as Italy, Turkey, Greece, Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, and Morocco. The system has also been fitted to unmanned surface vessels Seagull and RHIBs for Israel and USN.

References

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[1] Active dipping sonar technology

[2] Flight International October 1987

[3] Simulating Anti-Submarine Warfare using MANA

[4] Rolls-Royce Naval Handling

[5] HIDAS

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