By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
NAVAL AIR STATION JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA — Among a row of hangars and offices that house US Navy helicopter squadrons at one end of this sprawling base, one sign doesn’t quite fit in. “725 Squadron” reads the awning out front, with a conspicuously non-US, fisted crest above the doorway.
And in the hangar, although the squadron’s MH-60R helicopters look like others on base, a closer look reveals a distinctive difference: a kangaroo — the nearly-universal logo of Australia.
“We’ve got a product that’s the same as the Americans,” Cmdr. David Frost, commanding officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) helicopter squadron, said of his new helos. “The only difference at the moment is that it’s got a Kangaroo on it.”
Frost arrived at the air station in January 2013 with about 50 service members to form the genesis for his new command, created to fly and train on the MH-60R helicopter.
The RAN is buying 24 of the aircraft — known as “Romeos” — to fly from the new air warfare destroyers under construction in Australia. The aircraft, built by Sikorsky with mission systems from Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, represent a quantum leap in capability over the S-70B “Bravo” Seahawk and Sea King helos operated by the Navy.
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