The Indian Navy reported that on July 28, 2022, the first two American ship-based multipurpose Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) MN-60R Sea Hawk helicopters, out of 24 units ordered by India, were delivered by flight from the United States to the Garuda Indian Naval Aviation base near Cochin. The helicopters have Indian tail numbers IN754 and IN755.
The first two American Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) MN-60R Sea Hawk multi-purpose helicopters delivered to India (Indian tail numbers IN754 and IN755), out of 24 units ordered for the Indian Navy. Garuda (Cochin), 28.07.2022 (c) Indian Navy
The helicopters were delivered aboard a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III military transport aircraft of the US Air Force. Delivery of another helicopter with the tail number IN756 is expected at Garuda in August, and in general, deliveries of all 24 helicopters ordered by India should be completed in 2025.
Strictly speaking, these boards are not the first MH-60R helicopters received by the Indian Navy. The first three helicopters under this order (Indian tail numbers IN751 to IN753) were transferred to the Indian Navy in June 2021 from the MH-60R helicopters of the late release of the 41st Naval Attack Helicopter Squadron (HSM-41) of the US Navy Aviation at the North Island Air Base near San Diego (California). These three helicopters remain there as part of the American HSM-41 squadron and are used to train Indian personnel. The remaining 21 helicopters under this order are being built by Sikorsky Aircraft (as part of Lockheed Martin) specifically for the Indian Navy. The first of them (IN754) made its first flight at the Sikorsky enterprise in Ovego (New York) on April 20, 2021, and now it is delivered to India.
The agreement between the Government of India and the United States for the supply of 24 MN-60R shipboard helicopters to the Indian Navy through the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) was concluded on February 25, 2020. According to Indian sources, the cost of the agreement is $2.6 billion.
Recall that the purchase of 24 MN-60R Sea Hawk multi-purpose ship helicopters is one of the longest projects of the Indian-American military-technical cooperation. A long-term Indian tender for a new MRH (Multi-Role Helicopter) multi-purpose helicopter to replace the Westland Sea King Mk 42 anti-submarine helicopters used by the Indian Navy has been conducted since 2006, while the Indian Navy from the very beginning expressed preference for the purchase of American Sikorsky S-70B helicopters (the "commercial" version of the MN-60R). At the last stages of the MRH competition, the only competitor to the S-70B was the European helicopter NH Nidustries NH90 (NFR). Comparative tests of the MH-60R and NH90 were conducted by the Indian Navy in 2011. However, in the summer of 2014, NH90 was excluded from the tender due to the fact that 32.5% of the stake in NH Nidustries belonged to AgustaWestland (now Leonardo Helicopters), controlled by the Italian Finmeccanica group (now Leonardo), which was "banned" by the Indian Ministry of Defense after the well-known corruption scandal with the sale of 12 AW101 helicopters to the Indian Air Force for government transportation. Therefore, the final choice of the Indian Navy for the MRH tender in favor of the S-70B was made in December 2014 on an uncontested basis.
Nevertheless, after that, the pre-contract negotiations between the Indian and American sides on the supply of ship-borne helicopters stretched for more than five years, while at first India intended to purchase S-70B helicopters directly from Sikorsky through direct commercial sales (DCS), then eventually there was a reorientation from the S-70B variant to "clean" MH-60R, an increase in the number of helicopters purchased from 16 to 24, and the US government and Lockheed Martin Corporation insisted on their delivery through the government's FMS mechanism. In August 2018, the Government of India approved the purchase of 24 MH-60RS through FMS.
In April 2019, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the US Department of Defense sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale of 24 MN-60R helicopters to India through FMS with a total estimated delivery cost of $2.6 billion. According to the notification, the delivery should include 1,000 AN/SSQ-36/53/62 radio-hydroacoustic buoys, 30 Mk 54 324 mm anti-submarine torpedoes, ten AGM-114 Hellfire guided missiles and 38 Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) guided missiles.
It can be assumed that additional purchases of MN-60R helicopters by India will follow in the future. As for the 24 MN-60R helicopters purchased now, they should replace the 17 Sea King Mk 42B helicopters currently used in Indian naval aviation as part of two naval aviation squadrons - the 330th at the Shikra Naval Air Base (Mumbai) and the 336th at Garuda (Cochin). Judging by the arrival of the first MH-60R helicopters on Garuda, the 336th Squadron will be the first to receive them.
The first two American Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) MN-60R Sea Hawk multi-purpose helicopters delivered to India (Indian tail numbers IN754 and IN755), out of 24 units ordered for the Indian Navy. Garuda (Cochin), 28.07.2022 (c) Indian Navy
