 |
| Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin (Enlarge: 4288x2848) |
PEO(A) Public Affairs
The 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, N.Y. 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, Conn., 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 Defence Materiel Organisation, 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."