INDIA. Mumbai: Two MH 60R helicopters sent by the US Government were received by the Indian Navy at Cochin International Airport on Thursday. The third helicopter is scheduled to be delivered on August 22.
These helicopters are part of the 24 helicopters being procured from US-based Lockheed Martin, as per the Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LoA) concluded with the US Government in February 2020. The other three helicopters received earlier are being utilized for training to Indian Navy crew.
The delivery of all 24 MH 60R helicopters will be completed by 2025. The induction of a state-of-the-art mission-capable platform will significantly boost the integral Anti Submarine Warfare capability of the Indian Navy, an official statement said.
These multi-mission helicopters have C4I capabilities and are designed for anti-submarine (ASW), and Anti-Surface Warfare ((ASuW), and they are capable of engaging targets which are over the horizon.
The Indian Navy is already flying the P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. It is expected to get Sea Guardian Drones from the US later this year. To carry out surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), P-8I maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing Company is operated by the Indian Navy.
Once the Sea Guardians join the Indian Navy, they will fly in sync with the P-8i, the MH-60R helicopters.
INS Visakhapatnam
In another development, Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command (WNC), visited INS Visakhapatnam, the lead ship of the P15B class of stealth destroyers, at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai on Thursday.
During the visit, the C-in-C interacted with the commissioning crew and reviewed the operational readiness and warfighting capabilities of the ship.
The ship was commissioned into the Indian Navy on November 21, in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The ship is indigenously designed by the Indian Navy and constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, located in South Mumbai.
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