MH-60R for Spanish Navy
On 15 Mar 2022, the State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Armada (Spanish Navy) of eight Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk Multi-Mission Helicopters with support and related equipment valued at USD950 million.
Next to the helicopters, the sale includes twenty T-700-GE-401C engines (sixteen installed, four spares); thirty-two AGM-114R(N) Hellfire missiles, all up rounds; two Hellfire II Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM); one hundred WGU-59/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II Guidance Sections, all up rounds; eight Link 16 Multifunctional Information Distribution Systems Joint Tactical Radio Systems (MIDS JTRS); and four Airborne Low Frequency Sonars (ALFS) (installed on four aircraft).
The MH-60R will provide the capability to perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions along with the ability to perform secondary missions including vertical replenishment, search and rescue, and communications relay and will bolster the Armada's ability to support NATO and remain interoperable with the US and the NATO alliance.
The Armada already operates the Sikorsky SH-60B and SH-60F with Escuadrilla 10 (Eslla 010) at Rota. Spain would become the eight nation, next to the US Navy, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF), Royal Saudi Navy and the Indian Naval Air Arm, to order the MH-60R. Greece and the Republic of Korea also ordered MH-60Rs.
No details were released on the delivery schedule.
Photo (just illustrative) by US Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Shannon Renfroe