Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky received a $382 million contract for eight MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from the US Navy.
Work on the helicopters is expected to be complete by September 2020, says the US Department of Defense in an online notice on 14 November. Some $147 million will be obligated initially from fiscal 2018 USN aircraft procurement funds, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The MH-60R Seahawk is used by the Navy for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance, communications relay, combat search and rescue, naval gunfire support and logistics support missions. The helicopter is armed with torpedoes, Hellfire missiles, Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets, and .50 caliber machine guns.
A US Navy MH-60R flies ahead of guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto
Credit: US Navy
The MH-60R helicopter replaced the Navy's fleet of legacy SH-60B and SH-60F aircraft, and is based on the US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk. The Navy has 264 of the helicopters in service, with an average age of 6.2 years old, according to FlightGlobal’s Fleet Analyzer. Another 33 are in service with Australia, Denmark and Saudi Arabia.
Some 52% of work for this most recent order of helicopters will be performed in Owego, New York, with 40% being done in Stratford, Connecticut and the remaining 8% happening in Troy, Alabama, according to the Defense Department notice.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
