Sikorsky, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, has completed the tests of the integrated mission and sensor systems of the 3 MH-60R SEAHAWK helicopters of the Greek Navy.
The tests were completed in early December 2023. These tests validate that each helicopter is ready to perform all its missions, anti-submarine or surface, operating from both ships and land.
"The commonality of the Greek MH-60R SEAHAWK with the 330 MH-60R and 250 MH-60S SEAHAWK, as well as with the global BLACK HAWK helicopter fleet, allows Sikorsky and the US Navy to continue to support and modernizing this operationally proven platform to maintain maximum operational availability and threat deterrence," Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo said in a statement.
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Greece is the seventh country to receive the US Navy's MH-60R naval helicopter. In Europe, Denmark operates 9 MH-60Rs. In 2023, Spain and Norway ordered a total of 14 MH-60R helicopters.
Arrival in Greece
Greece ordered the MH-60R helicopters in 2 phases—four in July 2020, and three in April 2021 through an intergovernmental Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement with the US Government.
The first three MH-60Rs will arrive in Greece in early 2024 in US Navy transport aircraft. The remaining four will arrive in 2025, completing the Greek Navy's purchase.
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According to military sources who spoke to Pentapostagma, these helicopters are expected sometime towards the end of this week or next and after they are "deployed" in Elefsina, they will then fly to the Kotroni naval base in Marathon.
There will be some more familiarization flights and hopefully by the end of winter, early spring at the latest they will be fully operational.
The aim is to equip the "Kimon" class FDI frigates, without this excluding their operational utilization from the helipads of the MEKO frigates or some modernized "S" class frigates.
The Navy's MH-60Rs will join the 11 existing S-70B/B6 SEAHAWKs at the Naval Helicopter Base at Kotroni in Marathon. Also known as Aegean Hawks, these helicopters were purchased directly from Sikorsky between 1994 and 2005.
These helicopters come at the right time as the Greek fleet wants them to be the long arm of the fleet and an antidote to Turkey's Type 214 submarines. Neighboring these submarines are known as the "Reis" class and the first of six Ankara is building in its own shipyards, the "Piri Reis" has essentially completed sea trials and will soon be fully operational necessitating a "killing submarines" in the arsenal of the Greek fleet
