In a traditional ceremony, the Indian Navy’s first MH-60R squadron was formally commissioned March 6 at INS Garuda, Kochi, in southern Kerala. Christened Indian Naval Air Squadron 334 (INAS 334), it will be home to the Navy’s current holding of six Seahawks, which were earlier operating as the “MH-60R cell.”
Delivered through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract inked in 2020 for approximately $2.12 billion, the 24 Seahawks will replace ageing Sea King anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters that have been in service since the 80s. The present holding of six Romeos are in the same configuration as those in service with the U.S. Navy. INAS 334 is likely to be designated as a training squadron for Seahawks, with operational squadrons and embarked flights covering the vast Indian peninsula once delivery is complete.
“Operational with the U.S. Navy and a growing number of other countries, [MH-60R] Romeo helicopters have proven their effectiveness and reliability to find submarines and other ships at sea,” Hamid Salim, vice president, Sikorsky Maritime Systems, told Vertical. “Proven, too, is the aircraft’s low cost to operate and maintain. The Indian Navy also will be able to upgrade its Romeo fleet as Sikorsky and the U.S. Navy continue to add transformative technologies that meet emerging maritime threats.”
The Navy’s MH-60R cell also had the mandate of Intensive Flying and Trials Unit (IFTU). Over the past two years, the Romeo cell has formulated and evaluated training profiles and syllabi for flight and ground crew. Capt. Soni Thomas, a qualified flying instructor and production test pilot, was the induction team and MH-60R cell leader (now doing sea command). His successor and test pilot member of the induction team, Capt. Abhishek Ram, is the commissioning CO of INAS 334.
The Navy has not yet acquired the MH-60R simulator, but a FMS case for it with CAE Inc. is believed to have been approved by the Indian Defence Acquisition Council. This would likely include a tactical and operational flight trainer (TOFT), a maintenance trainer, and a spare airframe for dispensable payload loading/unloading training. The simulator is expected to be up and running by 2027 at Kochi.
The follow-on support (FOS)/follow-on spares support (FOSS) cases were delinked from the main FMS case due to budget constraints. This seems to have posed some challenges, imposing cascade delays on integration of Seahawks with the Navy’s fleet air arm. Notwithstanding, the IFTU has undertaken extensive dynamic interface trials on all major surface combatants of the fleet, including aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant.
The balance of 18 Seahawks will be customised with “India unique equipment” that includes tactical radios, IFF, data link and weapons — mostly from indigenous sources. LoA for a separate weapons contract was signed in 2023, with deliveries expected in the later half of this decade.
“We are ready and itching to ‘mark loiter’ in the Indian Navy’s area of responsibility,” a senior member of the induction team told Vertical. The squadron’s motto translates to “Fearless at Sea Always.”
