Indian Navy Enhances Anti-Submarine Warfare Capabilities With MH-60R Helicopter Induction

Next week, the Indian Navy will add the MH 60R helicopter to its fleet, which will make its Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) powers even stronger. This will be the pinnacle of its air superiority over the coast of Kochi.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will give the new MH 60R Seahawk multi-role helicopter its first flight at INS Garuda on March 6. This was confirmed by Navy sources.

As INAS 334, the squadron will be put into service with the Indian Navy and will be led by Captain M Abhisheik Ram.

It was in February 2020 that the Indian government made a deal with the US to buy 24 fourth-generation MH 60R helicopters. So far, six of them have been given to the Indian Navy.

Ram said that the Indian Navy will be much stronger and more capable at sea now that these helicopters are part of it.

In explaining what the new helicopter can do, he said that besides the ASW, it is made for anti-surface warfare, search and rescue operations at night and during the day, medical evacuation, and vertical refueling, among other things.

“This MH-60R brings us a lot closer to being able to fight submarines.” “Being able to fight submarines and keeping the helicopter alive will change how we do surveillance, and it will give us a bigger surveillance bubble,” Ram said.

He also said that the new helicopters had been combined with almost all of the Indian Navy’s ships and were ready to go on duty.

Besides bombs and missiles, the MH 60R can also fire advanced precision kill weapon system rockets and torpedoes.

The helicopter has Chaff and Infrared Flares as self-defense, which can be used automatically if a danger is detected, said Lieutenant Commandant Aneesh Ayarotil, who is trained to fly the MH 60R.

This is the only helicopter in the Indian Navy that can defend itself against gunfire or rockets.

“We can use flares to scare off heat-seeking missiles coming at us, and chaffs with high-radar-reflecting materials to throw off radar-homing missiles.”

The engineer Ayarotil, who used to fly for Chetak, said that the MH 60R is one of the most modern helicopters and that the systems are easy for pilots to use.

“We can set the autopilot to hover, which will make the pilots’ jobs easier,” he said.

The US taught the first five groups of pilots and observers. These people are in charge of the weapon and detection systems and make tactical and navigational decisions.

Ram said that the rest of the training took place at INS Garuda in Kochi, where a model is also going to be built.

We are giving them a realistic idea of how to fight when they get on an Indian ship, which makes this training more real. In the US, most of our training was done on a computer, and they don’t let us show off our skills very often. “This is where we do exercises with real submarines, ships, and planes, making the training more realistic,” he said.

The new helicopter has night vision goggles and forward-looking infrared equipment that can be used for rescue operations. It is especially useful for night search and rescue tasks.

The helicopters have been added to the INS Vikrant, which the Navy sees as a big step forward.

For the past eight to nine months, the advanced weapons, sensors, and electronics suite on board have been put through a lot of tests.

The helicopter can also share data in real time through advanced data link systems with bases in India and friendly foreign countries. This means that it can work with everything.

At the moment, all six delivered Seahawks are in Kochi. Along with other countries, it recently took part in the MILAN drill on the eastern coast of India.