ROBERT HODGSON MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 10385. Westland Super Lynx Mk.120 (ZJ976 c/n 446) Ministry of Defence
Photographed at Farnboropugh, UK, July 1, 2004, by Robert Hodgson

Westland Super Lynx Mk.120

01/31/2011. Marketed as the AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300, this type was ordered as the Super Lynx Mk.120 by the RAF of Oman in January 2002. The fully integrated cockpit with a colour liquid crystal display system and avionic management system is also equipped with crashworthy armored crew seats and a head up display. The Omani aircraft are the first Super Lynx to be fitted with a new generation HUMS (Health and Usage Monitoring System) and a data transfer device.

The aircraft features a nose-mounted FLIR, chin-mounted 360° radar for surveillance, wire-strike protection system, defensive aids suite and a cabin mounted auxiliary fuel tank for long-range missions. For armed escort missions, the Super Lynx Mk.120 can carry up to two 0.787 in (20 mm) forward-firing cannon pods or 19-tube 2.75 in (70 mm) rocket pods. It is powered by two 1,362 shp LHTEC CTS800-4N turbine engines with FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control).

The first aircraft was flown at the Westland factory at Yeovil, Somerset, on October 25, 2003, the sixteen aircraft for Oman were flown in the UK with the British military serials ZJ971 to ZJ986 (in Oman they received the s/n 757 to 772 respectively), the first batch of three aircraft was delivered to Oman in June 2004, and by November 2005 all sixteen had been delivered.

They perform anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare tasks from the Omani navy's Qahir-class corvettes, and a variety of missions, including utility, troop transport, armed escort, search and rescue, from air force bases.

Pictured here on static display at the Farnborough Airshow, ZJ976 was delivered in August 2004 and became 762 in the RAF of Oman.

Created January 31, 2011