by Patrick Boniface

Created on: September 14, 2008

Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, the flightdeck of smaller US Navy frigates and destroyers would almost certainly have been occupied by a Kaman Seasprite helicopter. Now in the autumn of its life with the US Navy, the Seasprite, however, is not yet ready for a swansong. Foreign sales of the latest version of the design, the SH-2G are going strong with orders for 25 from Australia, New Zealand and Egypt plus a number of other Southeast Asian countries expressing interest in a design that is over forty years old.

It is perhaps testimony to the success of the original design that it is still flying effectively in the 21st century. Many of the original 250 manufactured airframes have been upgraded many times with the addition of new rotor blades, avionics and electronics.

The designers at Kaman, who had many years of experience in developing intermeshing twin rotor helicopter designs, decided in the late 1950's to design a conventional helicopter suitable for use onboard US Navy frigates and destroyers to compete in the LAMPS I program. In the 1950's, the use of helicopters onboard ships was still in its infancy and Kaman's inventiveness added much to the collective knowledge. To speed the design process Kaman engineers decided on a single engine design. The blueprints were christened as company design K-20. Subsequently, this designation was changed to HU2K-1 and after a short construction period, the first prototype took to the air for the first time on 2nd July 1959. Another designation change occurred on 1st October 1962 when the HU2K became the H-2. Kaman would manufacture 190 UH-2A and UH-2B single engined Seasprites for duties as diverse as liaison, utility, SAR and combat rescue (four YUH-2A, 84 UH-2A, 102 UH-2B)

By 1968, however, single engined Seasprites were being phased out of service to be replaced with twin engined HH-2C and HH-2D rescue helicopters.

The benefits of twin engined helicopter operations were becoming obvious, especially at sea where the extra engine could be a lifesaver. The Kaman Seasprite so equipped first appeared in the ASW role in October 1970 when the Navy selected the SH-2D as an interim LAMPS platform. This version saw the introduction of an undernose radome containing the advanced Litton LN 66 search radar. An ASQ-81 Magentic Anomaly Detector (MAD) was fitted on the starboard fuselage pylon whilst a removable sonobouy rack was put in the fuselage port side with space enough for 15 sonobouys. Twenty HH-2D's were converted to SH-2D

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