The U.S. Navy’s premier anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface (ASuW) helicopter, the MH-60R Seahawk, has shot down its first drone, marking a new milestone for the service.
During an address on Jan. 16, 2025, at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium, near Washington DC, Admiral James Kilby, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, revealed the successful destruction of a Houthi drone by a U.S. Navy helicopter. Kilby was addressing the United States’ efforts in the Red Sea, before stating “I was sitting in my office not too long ago where we had the first helicopter shoot down a UAV.”
This was later clarified in a follow up conversation with Vice Admiral Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, who confirmed that the shoot down occurred “about a month ago” and involved a MH-60R Seahawk attached to the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.
They did not state as to the type of drone that was struck by the Seahawk, nor the weapon system employed, however Cheever stated during the symposium that an “unconventional system” was used to take it down, suggesting that the helicopter may have used a weapon system not normally used against aerial threats.
The Warzone, who first reported the story about the shoot down, suggested several options for the type of munitions possibly used against the Houthi drone.
One of these is the AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile, citing use by U.S. and Israeli AH-64 Apache helicopters employing Hellfires against drones in live fire exercises as well as on combat operations, however this would mark a first use on this type of helicopter. The Hellfire would have had to be laser guided, as the variants used against drones in exercises by the U.S. Army feature a millimeter-wave radar seeker cued by the Apache’s onboard AN-APG-78 Longbow radar, which the Seahawk lacks.
They have also suggested that the AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), a laser guided variant of the Hydra 70 rocket, may have been used in the engagement. If one of these systems was used, it speaks to the skill and accuracy of the onboard crew to be able to successfully lase a target moving in three dimensions at speed.
This also adds a new counter drone capability to the U.S. Navy’s arsenal which can be repeated in future engagements.
Test pilots from 84th TES, 926th Wing, were recently tasked with test firing the 1st ever Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System II laser-guided rockets from the F-16, Nov. 12, Eglin AFB, Fla
Video courtesy: 40th Flight Test Squadron, Eglin AFB, Fla#ReserveReform#ReserveReady pic.twitter.com/1NfkSjAfA3
— 926th Wing (@926thWing) November 12, 2020
The Seahawk
The Seahawk is a majorly upgraded and altered version of the original U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk, developed to improve logistics and the supply of spare parts for the U.S. Navy helicopter arm by keeping commonality with the Black Hawk series of helicopters. This originally produced multiple Seahawk variants, all of which were designed for different roles within the Navy’s helicopter force.
Also known as the Romeo, the MH-60R is a further demonstration of this concept, with the aircraft replacing multiple Navy variants of the Black Hawk and combining their capabilities onto a single multi-role airframe.
The Romeo replaced the SH-60B Seahawk, the U.S. Navy’s first Black Hawk derivative that was operational between 1979 and 2016. This helicopter laid out the design for the rest of the Seahawk series of aircraft, featuring anti-corrosion coatings on all surfaces, a changed landing gear layout to accommodate a folding tail boom, as well as folding rotor blades.
The SH-60B acted as the U.S. Navy’s Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) helicopter, providing ASW capability to warships operating away from a carrier battlegroup. The helicopter was used to scout outside of a ship’s own radar and sonar horizon utilizing its onboard magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) and air-launched sonobuoys to track hostile submarines, before sending the data back to the ship, or attacking the target with its own on-board weapon systems. Its multi role capability meant it could operate as the ship’s general-purpose helicopter, performing search and rescue (SAR), ASuW and other utility roles needed for a ship at sea.
The MH-60R also replaced the SH-60F as the U.S. Navy’s primary ASW helicopter, which was designed purely for hunting and killing submarines in defense of the carrier battle group. It utilized an AQS-13F dipping sonar and a six-tube sonobuoy launcher for locating the submarine and either Mk 46, Mk 50, or Mk 54 torpedoes to destroy it.
Replacing these, the MH-60R combines both sets of capability onto a single multirole platform, enabling the U.S. Navy to fulfil all its mission requirements with an eased logistics chain.
The MH-60R comes equipped with a modern multi-function digital glass cockpit, with four 8×10 inch full-color multifunction mission and flight displays that are usable with night vision goggles, enabling nighttime flight operations. It comes with space for four flight crew and a cabin for up to five passengers, who can operate a pintle mounted machine gun for self-defense purposes.
Owing to its multirole capabilities, the MH-60R can carry both the Mk 46 and Mk 50 lightweight torpedoes to deal with submarines, as well as the already mentioned AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and AGR-20 APKWS to counter surface threats such as small ships and boats. However, for the primary role of ASW, the helicopter utilizes a newer on-board dipping sonar, the AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low-Frequency Sonar (ALFS), that allows it to hunt and kill hostile submarines in defense of the fleet.
The MH-60R is now the major workhorse of the U.S. Navy’s helicopter arm, capable of operating from every U.S. warship in a variety of mission sets. It is also in service with the naval arms of India, South Korea, Denmark, Qatar and Australia, and will soon enter service with the Spanish Navy. This highlights the extreme versatility of the original Black Hawk airframe, with it still remaining a must buy for navies all over the world over 50 years after its first flight.
An @Australian_Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter from #HMASBallarat lands aboard #USSJohnSMcCain in the Andaman Sea on Sunday as the two ships continued integrated operations that began last week in the South China Sea. #NavyPartnerships pic.twitter.com/2pxss55vJ8
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— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) November 2, 2020
Helicopters Vs Drones
Stories surrounding the use of the helicopter as a counter drone weapon system are becoming more apparent. The British Royal Navy recently tested its Wildcat HMA2 in the counter drone role, shooting down a target drone with a Martlet air-to-surface missile, however other states have taken a more traditional route with their counter drone aircraft.
In Ukraine, Mil Mi-8 Hip and Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopters have been reported shooting down Russian attack and reconnaissance drones with machine guns and autocannon fire during the war. Acting as a part of Ukraine’s layered anti-drone defenses, crews are vectored onto the target by ground based radars, where they will then take up a firing position from the rear before destroying the target with onboard weapons.
Neither helicopter was designed with these types of engagements in mind, but they allow the Ukrainian Surface to Air Missile (SAM) network to save its missiles for cruise and ballistic threats, and free up fighter aircraft for desperately needed fire support missions on the front line.
Ukrainians shoot down a Russian UAV with an on-board machine gun of a Mi-8 helicopter pic.twitter.com/18ZFtXOBPu
— PS01 □ (@PStyle0ne1) August 22, 2024
In the above footage of the Mi-8 shooting down a Russian drone, the gunner is positioned in the nose between the pilot and co-pilot operating a general-purpose type 7.62 mm machine gun from a flexible mount.
Forbes estimates that Ukraine possesses a 75-strong fleet of Hips, taking into account losses and resupply, with a number capable of being adapted in a similar way. For one way attack drones, such as the Shahed 136 used by the Houthis and Russia, this type of adaptation is but one of many used by states fighting drones.
🇨🇵🇾🇪The first video recording of the “fights” in the Red Sea
French military released footage of an embarked helicopter of a French destroyer intercepting and downing a Houthi UAV launched from Yemen towards the Red Sea pic.twitter.com/ikax1MIsW1
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) March 20, 2024
Back in the Red Sea, a Marine Nationale (French Navy) AS565 Panther multirole helicopter had previously shot down a Houthi drone, likely using a pintle mounted machine gun, whilst operating from the FREMM Frigate Alsace. This marked the first such shootdown of a drone from a helicopter in the Red Sea, with the reported U.S. shootdown being the second such occurrence.
As drones become more and more prominent on the battlefield at land and at sea, states will continue to adapt weapon systems meant for other targets to take them out. Until direct counters for drones, such as laser systems, become the norm, this type of adaptation of conventional systems will become a common feature of modern warfare.
