The cylindrical AN/AES-1 ALMDS seen mounted on an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter. (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
Northrop Grumman has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hanwha to produce components of the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) for South Korea's mine-countermeasures helicopters.
Under the agreement, Hanwha “will support” the manufacturing of hardware components of the ALMDS for the Republic of Korea's Mine Countermeasures Helicopter (KMCH) programme, Northrop Grumman said on 20 February.
The ALMDS is a recoverable system designed to detect, classify, and locate floating and near-surface moored mines. According to Northrop Grumman, the ALMDS “is capable of untethered day or night operations, which allow it to attain high area search rates”.
In the case of the Korea Aerospace Industries' (KAI's) Mine Countermeasures Helicopter (MCH), which is due to be equipped with the ALMDS, the system is positioned on the lower port side of the helicopter and designed to be lowered into the water by the helicopter's Carriage, Stream, Tow, and Recovery System (CSTRS).
“ALMDS also provides accurate target geolocation to support follow-on neutralisation of the detected mines,” Northrop Grumman added in a statement.
In August 2024 Northrop Grumman also signed an MOU with Genohco for manufacturing ALMDS hardware components. In October 2023 KAI awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to provide ALMDS “solutions and technical support” for the engineering, manufacturing, and design (EMD) phase of the KMCH programme.
At the time, the EMD phase was expected to be completed in 2027.
KAI has previously said that it regards the ALMDS as a key capability of its MCH programme. “KAI is convinced that the ALMDS integration will make a significant improvement to the Republic of Korea Navy's (RoKN's) mine-detection capabilities,” Chang-heon Han, executive vice-president of KAI's rotary-wing division, said in 2023.
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