Aircraft Being Prepared At LMC Facility In NY

An MH-60R Seahawk, which will soon become the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) first, arrived July 24 at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training in Owego, NY.  This Seahawk will be mission ready and transferred to the RAN in December this year.

Officially delivered by Sikorsky Aircraft and accepted by the U.S. Navy on June 29, the Seahawk was flown from Sikorsky’s Stratford, CT., facility by U.S. Navy pilots to the Lockheed facility to have the digital cockpit and integrated mission systems and sensors installed.

"Delivery and first flight of an Australian MH-60R aircraft in late June occurred only two years after contract signature, some six months ahead of the original schedule approved by the Australian Government in 2011," said Capt. Scott Lockey, project director at the Defense Materiel Organization, which is procuring 24 MH-60R anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare helicopters for the Royal Australian Navy.  "This is a magnificent outcome for our program."

The U.S. Navy announced the acquisition in June of 2011, saying the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter fulfills the Australian Defense Force’s AIR 9000 Phase 8 requirement for a fleet of 24 new-generation, multi-role naval combat aircraft. The Commonwealth will acquire the helicopters with associated training and logistical support via the U.S. Government’s Foreign Military Sales program.

(Seahawk MH-60R image from file)

FMI: www.navy.gov.au