India is expected to sign a $2 billion-plus contract for the procurement of 24 Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk multirole naval helicopters. “The LOR (letter of request) and LOA (letter of acceptance) procedures [are on track] and we should be ready by the end of the year,” Admiral Karambir Singh was quoted as saying by The Economic Times on July 25.
The helicopters will be directly bought from the U.S. government under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to expedite the procurement of the new helicopters. Let’s remind that India’s Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of 111 armed light naval utility helicopters (NUH) and 24 naval multirole helicopters (NMRH) for the Indian Navy under the Indian Ministry of Defense’s new strategic partnership policy in August 2018.Read More…
