Sound buoys are the spearhead of the MH-60, as they are the devices that take enemy submarines out of their “chamber”. Photo Navy
The international press, especially in the last few days, deals either with Turkey and the agonizing path it is taking in the face of a strongly anti-Turkish Congress, or with the scissors that open dramatically in favor of Greece, or even with the imminent decisions that concern the strengthening of the Greek Armed Forces.
Much has been made of the decision regarding corvettes and naval warfare, that although the Navy’s operational evaluation is hypothetically complete, the suitors are attempting to torpedo each other.
At the same time, however, the leadership and the Naval Staff, away from the spotlight, are working to complete the “invisible net” of surveillance and deterrence at the bottom of the Aegean.
Many times we have pointed out through our page that in the Navy and in the naval struggle, the leadership gives great importance to anti-submarine warfare.
The ability of the fleet, the crews, the means, the experience was shown in the best way in 2020. And now the leadership of the Navy, despite the fact that the spotlight falls on the corvettes, is moving to the next evolutionary step with the aim of any Turkish submarine, even a future type 214, will sail under the surface of the Aegean Sea, to be revealed.
The preparation of the official request (LOR) for the additional three MH-60 Romeo anti-submarine warfare helicopters is in its final stage and with this expression of interest, the number of state-of-the-art helicopters rises to ten in total. At the same time, twelve executives from Kotroni of Marathon, from the “nest” of the navy’s helicopters, are preparing for the training trip to the United States.
There they will find the first three Greek Romeos, where with them they will start the training flights as co-pilots initially and after first going through the desks and the simulator.
In the United States will be built the first core of the new acquisition of the Navy and there pilots and engineers will unlock many of the secrets of the new pro-weapon, mainly against the Turkish submarines 214, of Greece. The information speaks of experienced members of the navy’s air fleet with hundreds, if not thousands, of flight hours over the waters of the Aegean, with many hours of surveillance and pursuit of Turkish submarines.
The training and all the procedures are estimated to last until the end of the new year, when the helicopters will arrive in Greece and join, with their operational crews, the Fleet.
However, there are also changes in the nest of the Aegean Sea Hawk S-70 Sikorsky and the AB-212. The hangar that will house the fleet’s new acquisitions is already being prepared, some of the pilots and engineers of the Augusta Bell 212 Squadron are moving to the S-70s, initially, while then with the arrival of the Romeos it is considered certain that they will move to the 1st Helicopter Squadron with the MH-60s.
The new helicopters will be accompanied when they come to Greece with their weapons, some of which are not just missiles and torpedoes. Sound buoys are the spearhead of the MH-60, as they are the devices that take enemy submarines out of their “chamber”.
Highly sensitive, they transmit to the Navy aircraft the sounds produced by a hidden enemy submarine.
The pointing of these devices at sea, in the following years and the valuable “sound bank” in the 353 Naval Cooperation Squadron, create their own safety net under the surface of the sea.
Unlike the S-70s that use their sonar to search the seabed, the Navy’s new MH-60 ROMEO helicopter – which is considered the most resounding response against Turkish submarines 214, whenever they are intercepted by the neighbor – has the ability to “plant”, like the P-3B Orion, the sonobuoys in the sea, receiving their signals and the sounds carried inside the instrument cabin.
Thanks to these systems, the MH-60 ROMEOs have the ability to cover much longer survey distances, effectively monitoring much larger areas in a much shorter time.
