The recent reports say that India will soon be sending a team to the United States for induction of the MH-60 “Romeo” multi-mission helicopters. This mission will be a significant capacity jump for the navy in detecting and destroying foe submarines in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
In 2021, the navy will get at least 3 of the 24 heavy-duty choppers. news shoppers will have my keyboard and night vision devices as well as armed with hellfire missiles. MK-54 torpedoes and precision-kill rockets. They are under Rs. 15’157 crore that is a $2.13 billion contract inked with the United States in February 2020.
Moreover, the 140 warships are currently fighting with a few old anti-submarine warfare (ASW) choppers namely Kamov-28s and Sea Kings when the presence of Chinese nuclear and diesel-electric submarines is only going to rise in IOR.
All the 24 MH-60R choppers will operate from the frontline warships including aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. The induction will be done by the end of 2023 or so.
Moreover, it will plug the critical operational gap on this front. On the other hand, the team of pilots and technicians for training and development of the MH-60Rs will be going to the United States in May and June, stated by the ministry source.
Moreover, the bunch of AWS choppers typically fly ahead of warships to dunk their sonars into deep water bodies, “ping” for enemy submarines, missiles, torpedoes, and the depth charges to clear the path for the fleet throughout abhorrence.
They can also offer anti-ship strikes, over-the-horizon network-centric services, and other electronic warfare missions.
Lastly, the navy has also projected a long-term need for another 123 naval multi-role helicopters (NMRHs), after the 24 MH-60Rs, but the proposed “Make In India” initiative cum project for them is still nowhere on the border.
The new MH-60Rs are substitutes for the older Sea King 42/42A choppers that were retired in the 1990s. The case for the 24 helicopters, incidentally started way back in the year 2005.
These were manufactured by Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin, the MH-60Rs, it will be the third type of iconic US choppers to be inducted by Indian armed forces. The IAF has previously inducted around 22 Apache attacks for Rs 13,952 crore and15 heavy-lift Chinook which was for 8,048 helicopters, both produced by Boeing.
In turn, the Army is slated to get six Apaches under Rs 5,691 crore deal and was also inked during former US President Donald Trump’s visit to India in February 2020.
Lastly, the whole scenario is like the United States bagged Indian arms or weapons deals worth over $21 billion just since 2007. Several more are in the pipeline. These also involve the $1.8 billion acquisition of six more P-81 long-range maritime patrol aircraft, which will add to the 12 such planes already contracted for about $3.2 billion previously.
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