U.S. Air Force officials decided to equip the HH-60W combat rescue helicopters with survivability and situational awareness technology. They chose offer from BAE Systems with its AN/DPX-7 Reduced Size Transponder (RST) Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) technology and its Common Missile Warning System (CMWS).
Currently due to its quite small size BAE Systems’ transponder is well suited for aircraft such as the combat rescue helicopter, where space must be maximized and weight limited to increase the aircraft’s performance.
The U.S. Air Force also will deploy the CMWS Gen3 system that includes both hostile fire indication and data recording capabilities to detect and evade booth small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The system also is capable to perform detailed post-mission analysis.