Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, said the Seahawk
Romeo’s cutting edge mission systems provided a formidable naval
platform.
“Navy’s next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface
warfare helicopter will be the cornerstone of our working Navy’s
aviation combat capability.
“The new aircraft’s multi-mission and multi-target precision
strike capabilities will increase our versatility and potency as a
high-end fighting force,” RADM Mayer said.
The head of the Helicopter and Guided Weapons Division in the Defence
Materiel Organisation, Rear Admiral Tony Dalton, said the successful
Hellfire missile firing was a major milestone in delivering Defence’s
Project AIR 9000 Phase 8.
“This $3.2 billion acquisition program is providing Navy with
a state-of-the-art, helicopter based war-fighting capability–our
journey through production, acceptance and now testing of the aircraft’s
major weapon systems has been steady, effective, ahead of schedule,
and on budget.
“The Seahawk Romeo is a quantum leap over Navy’s current
combat helicopter force–both in numbers and capability,”
RADM Dalton said.
Defence took delivery of the first two of 24 Seahawk Romeos in the
United States in December 2013 at Lockheed Martin’s Mission
Systems Facility in Owego, New York. Two more aircraft were accepted
in February 2014.
All four aircraft are being operated by Navy’s 725 Squadron
alongside three US Navy Seahawk Romeo squadrons based out of the US
Navy’s Jacksonville air station in Florida.
Ultimately, two Seahawk Romeo squadrons will be home based at Navy’s
Nowra, New South Wales, air station, with 725 Squadron conducting
Seahawk Romeo training and 816 Squadron flying the Seahawk Romeo from
Navy’s ANZAC Class frigates and the new Hobart Class destroyers.
A further two MH-60R will be delivered in October 2014. Deliveries
will continue during 2015 with the 24th and final aircraft being delivered
in 2016. 725 Squadron personnel and their aircraft will be brought
home to Australia at the end of 2014.
