Navy gets 2 multi-role copters from US

The Indian Navy received the first two of its MH-60R Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) from US Navy on Friday in a ceremony held at NAS North Island, San Diego.

MH-60R helicopters will play an important role in maritime security at a time when the Indian Ocean Region is witnessing increased security threats due to the proliferation of submarines.

Indian Navy is procuring 24 of these helicopters under foreign military sales from the US government.

MH-60 ‘Romeo’ helicopters can be effectively employed for offensive and defensive roles including anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship strike, search and rescue, over the horizon Network Centric Operations and Electronic Warfare.

These helicopters are a replacement for the Sea King 42/42A helicopters already decommissioned in the 1990s and envisaged to operate from front-line ships and aircraft carriers providing them the critical attributes of the flexibility of operation, enhanced surveillance and attacking capability.

The handing over ceremony marked the formal transfer of these helicopters from the US Navy to the Indian Navy, which were accepted by Indian ambassador to USA Taranjit Singh Sandhu. The ceremony also witnessed the exchange of helicopter documents between officials from US and Indian navies. MH60R helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation, USA is an all-weather helicopter designed to support multiple missions with state-ofthe-art avionics. The helicopters would also be modified with several India Unique Equipment and weapons. In order to exploit these potent helicopters, the first batch of Indian crew is presently undergoing training in the USA.