How Helicopters Affect Naval Operations

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The navy has made many advances in technologies that have impacted naval warfare and operations. One of their advances is the application of helicopters. Helicopters have helped the naval operations in many ways. They've assisted with anti-submarine warfare, anti-mine warfare, search and rescue, cargo lifts, and personal transportation. A single helicopter can be use in all of these operations, making them extremely versatile and cost effective for the navy. The current helicopters being used by the navy today is the Sea Hawk SH-60 and the Sea Dragon MH-53.
Anti-submarine and anti-mine warfare is crucial for the navy to conduct. Both the Sea Hawk and the Sea Dragon can carry out anti-submarine operations. Helicopters have improved anti-submarine …show more content…

The use of surface ships in search and rescue is useful when you know where the location of your target. But if you didn't know exactly where the target is, it could take a longer amount of time to find them. The use of helicopters in search and rescue operations are more efficient than surface ships. Helicopters allow the navy to search from the sky, and can be used within more urban or rural areas. Helicopters are also able to conduct search and rescue missions when the ocean is too rough for ships to sail. The Sea Hawk can also conduct cargo lifts. The Sea Hawk is capable of carrying up to 9000 pounds. Cargo lifts allow the Navy to transport supplies from ship to ship. Without helicopters ships would have to transport goods using the Alongside Connected Replenishment (CONREP) method. CONREP is when two ships come up next to one another and use a shot line to send supplies from one ship to the other. The main advantage of vertical replenishment (VERTREP) is that ships no longer need to come up next to one another to transfer supplies. Depending on the amount of helicopters involved in the VERTREP, supplies could be transports much faster than the CONREP method. Search and rescue, and the transportation of supplies from ship to ship have both been improved because of the use of