Indian Navy MH-60R Romeo Helicopters: Indian Navy Friday accepted the first two MH-60R Romeo Multi Role Helicopters from US Navy in a ceremony held at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego. During US President Donald Trump’s India visit in February 2020, India-US signed a deal to acquire 24 submarine hunter MH-60R helicopters produced by Sikorsky, a unit of world’s largest defence contractor Lockheed Martin.
“The ceremony marked the formal transfer of these helicopters from US Navy to Indian Navy, which were accepted by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indian Ambassador to USA,” Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The ceremony also witnessed exchange of helicopter documents between Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, Commander Naval Air Forces, US Navy and Vice Admiral Ravneet Singh, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS) of Indian Navy.
MH-60R helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation, USA is an all-weather helicopter designed to support multiple missions with state of the art avionics and sensors.
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“Indian Navy will procure 24 of these helicopters under Foreign Military Sales from the US Government. The helicopters would also be modified with several India Unique Equipment and weapons,” said the MoD.
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The induction of these MRH would further enhance Indian Navy’s three dimensional capabilities. In order to exploit these potent helicopters, the first batch of Indian crew is presently undergoing training in USA, it added.
Indian Navy’s Ravneet Singh (R) accepted MH-60R choppers from US Navy’s Kenneth Whitesell.
India-US deal for 24 MH-60 Romeo Helicopters
Under the $3 billion agreement signed during Trump’s maiden visit to the country, India also agreed to acquire six additional Apache anti-tank helicopters for Indian Army.
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Apache attack helicopters are produced by another US defence giant – Boeing and India had signed a deal in 2015 to acquire 22 Apache helicopters for Indian Air Force.
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