Lockheed Martin Delivers First Two MH-60R Helicopters To Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy has been handed over its first two of 24 MH-60R naval combat helicopters from Lockheed Martin.

The helicopters will replace the aging S-70B-2 Seahawks and will add an anti-surface warfare capability to its Fleet Air Arm.

The occasion also marked the delivery of the first MH-60R for the export market.

They are being acquired via a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement under Project AIR 9000 phase 8, which is on schedule and under budget, according to. The first deliveries occurred one month ahead of program schedule and the final aircraft will be handed over in 2016, six months earlier than contracted, he said.

“Australia is between the Indian and Pacific oceans and there are currently more than 200 submarines active in the region, 64 of them nuclear,” Rear Adm. Tony Dalton, head of the Helicopter Division of Australia’s Defense Materiel Organisation was quoted as saying.

First of Class sea trials with an Australian Navy Anzac-class frigate is due to begin in early 2015.