TSAMTO, April 23. The US Department of Defense announced the signing of the US Navy Aviation Systems Command with Lockheed Martin Corp. contract for the supply of 12 MH-60R helicopters for the Republic of Korea Navy under the Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS).
The agreement is valued at $ 447.231 million. The work will be carried out at the enterprises in Ovego (pc.New York, 52%), Stradford (pc.Connecticut, 40%), Three (Alabama, 8%) and are expected to be completed in December 2024.
As reported by TSAMTO, the acquisition of 12 marine multi-purpose helicopters is carried out by the Navy of the Republic of Korea under the program "Purchase of the second batch of marine helicopters" (Maritime Operation Helicopter batch-two-MOH 2), the total budget of which is about 960 billion rubles. won ($878 million). Earlier, in 2016, as part of the first phase of the program, the Leonardo Group delivered eight AW-159 Wildcat twin-engine helicopters to the Republic of Korea Navy.
Two bidders participated in the tender for the delivery of the second batch of helicopters: Lockheed Martin's MH-60R Seahawk and Leonardo's AW-159 Wildcat.
In August 2019, the US Department of State approved the delivery to the Republic of Korea under the Foreign Military Sales program of 12 MH-60R Seahawk multi-purpose helicopters equipped with APS-153(V) multi-mode radar, onboard low-frequency GAS, AN/AAS-44C(V) multispectral targeting systems, as well as other related equipment and services at a total cost of up to $ 800 million.
In December 2020, after evaluating the proposals of the applicants, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea decided to purchase the MH-60R "Sihok"multi-purpose helicopters.
The ordered helicopters can be used for a variety of tasks, including anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, search and rescue operations, supply and medical evacuation.
Although the reasons for choosing the Seahawk, as opposed to the Wildcat, are not entirely clear, the British Financial Times newspaper reported in February 2020 that the Trump administration had put pressure on Seoul by lobbying for the purchase of an American helicopter, and this could play a role, despite the change of administration. In addition, in 2020, the Republic of Korea Navy suspended the operation of the Wildcat helicopter fleet as a precautionary measure after abnormal vibrations were detected on one of the helicopters during a patrol. Later, the malfunction was detected only on one of the eight helicopters. In theory, this could also influence the choice of the MH-60R. In addition, it is noted that the presence of two types of helicopters will not stop the use of the entire fleet in case of problems when operating one of the machines of one type or another.
