The U.S. Navy announced yesterday that Denmark intends to buy nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters designed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
Denmark will acquire the MH-60R Romeo variants of the aircraft through the foreign military sales program for a cost of $686 million, the Navy said. Australia last year became the first country to buy Romeos. Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies [UTX], builds the airframe while Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the systems integrator.
The MH-60Rs are intended to replace Denmark’s fleet of Westland Lynx Mk-90Bs, which have been in service since 2000. Italy-based Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland unit was in the competition to supply the next fleet and had offered its AW159 airframe.
“We’re very pleased to see Denmark choose the MH-60R,” Rear Adm. Paul Grosklags, the program executive officer for air, anti-submarine warfare, assault and special missions at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said. “The Romeo’s proven performance and reliability will meet their maritime needs, and will provide both Denmark and the United States with interoperability benefits as our nations continue to operate in close partnership during contingency operations and missions around the world.”
The U.S. Navy operates 85 MH-60Rs and uses an additional 44 in training squadrons. The Navy plans to buy a total of 291 of them by 2017.