New Delhi: The Indian Navy has accepted the first two of its MH-60R Multi Role Helicopters (MRH) from the United States in a ceremony held at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.
The ceremony held earlier on Friday marked the formal transfer of these helicopters from the US Navy to the Indian Navy.
India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, accepted the helicopters during the ceremony, which also witnessed the exchange of helicopter documents between Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, Commander Naval Air Forces, US Navy, and Vice Admiral Ravneet Singh, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS), Indian Navy.
“Deepening Flag of IndiaFlag of United States Defence ties! Attended the handing over ceremony of the first @LockheedMartin #MH60R Multi Role Helicopters from @USNavy to @indiannavy, along with Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, Commander US Naval Air Forces and DCNS Vice Adm Ravneet Singh at #SanDiego today,” the Indian ambassador tweeted.
The MH-60R helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation, US, is an all-weather helicopter designed to support multiple missions with state of the art avionics/ sensors.
24 of these helicopters are being procured under the Foreign Military Sales from the US Government. The helicopters would also be modified with several India unique equipment and weapons.
“The induction of these MRH would further enhance Indian Navy’s three dimensional capabilities. In order to exploit these potent helicopters, the first batch of Indian crew is presently undergoing training in USA,” the Ministry of Defence said in a release.