DATE: 22/11/2018
Wednesday
Current Affairs
Prepared by: Maharana Sibasankar
Sources: THE HINDU and the Indian Express
- INDIA HAS MADE A FORMAL REQUEST TO THE U.S. FOR PURCHASING 24 MH-60R MULTI-ROLE HELICOPTERS (MRH) FOR THE NAVY
- The Government issued the Letter of Request (LoR) recently for procurement of 24 MRH from the U.S. government under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route.
- The deal is of $2bn.
- The Navy is facing a critical shortage of helicopters and several frontline warships that are plying with empty helicopter decks in the present days.
- These helicopters are being procured as a replacementfor 15 Sea King Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters de-inducted from service in the year 1991 and one Sea King 42B MRH lost in an accident.
- The current MRHs in service i.e. Sea King 42Bs, were inducted in the 1980s.
- All the helicopters would be delivered in a phased manner between 2020-24.
- MH-60R: It is also referred to as ‘Romeo’. The helicopter is equipped for a range of missions i.e.
- Anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
- Anti-surface warfare (ASuW)
- Search-and-rescue (SAR)
- Naval gunfire support (NGFS)
- Surveillance
- Communications relay
- Logistics support and
- Personnel transfer and vertical replenishment (VERTREP).
For Full Article Click Here