Indian Navy To Commission First 6 US-Made Seahawk Helicopters

The first six Seahawk helicopters bought from the US in a multi-chopper deal in 2020 will be commissioned by the Indian Navy from its naval station INS Garuda on 6 March.

Indian Navy To Commission First 6 US-Made Seahawk Helicopters

The first six Seahawk helicopters bought from the US in a multi-chopper deal in 2020 will be commissioned by the Indian Navy from its naval station INS Garuda on 6 March. The twin-engine helicopters are capable of operating from different warships as well as aircraft carriers. They will also be used by the Navy to carry out anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, search and rescue, medical evacuation and vertical replenishment.

The commissioning of these multi-role helicopters comes at a time when the Navy has been increasingly responding to incidents of piracy and missile attacks on merchant vessels by Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Indian Ocean Region — a spillover of Israel’s war on Gaza. The squadron, which will be commissioned in the Navy as INAS 334, is armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, MK 54 torpedoes, as well as advanced precision-kill rockets.

They are the first batch of the 24-aircraft deal signed under the government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract with the US in February 2020. It is learnt the remaining copters of the $2.6 billion deal will be delivered to the Indian Navy by 2025. The Seahawk has been tested in Indian Reference Atmosphere conditions and is fully integrated into the fleet. The advanced weapons, sensors and avionics suite make the Seahawks ideal for the Indian Navy’s maritime security needs, offering enhanced capabilities for both conventional as well as asymmetric threats.

The MH-60R aircraft, manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, is equipped with advanced digital sensors which include the multi-mode radar, electronic support measures system, infrared camera, datalinks, aircraft survivability systems, dipping sonar as well as sonobuoys. The formal commissioning of these helicopters comes more than two decades after the Indian Navy first moved a proposal to acquire medium multi-role helicopters. Seahawks are also operated by the Royal Danish Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Saudi Naval Forces.