India has started the process of acquiring 24 state-of-the-art anti-submarine combat helicopters for the Navy

New Delhi: India has started the process of acquiring 24 state-of-the-art anti-submarine combat helicopters for the Navy following a $905 million deal with US company Lockheed Martin.

The MH-60R helicopters would replace obsolete Indian Navy Sea King helicopters acquired from England in 1971.

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The agreement that has been signed is less than half of the $2.6 billion package announced by the US State Department in April 2019.

The package also includes the cost of a variety of weapons systems, including choppers, their sensors and communications systems, as well as aircraft-capable Hellfire missiles, MK54 torpedoes and precision strike rocket systems.

PhotoThese helicopters can also be used to fire naval strike missiles (NSMs) developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace.

NSM can intercept any warship from a range of 185 km. India was also hoping for an NSM training missile in the original package so that the missile system could be traded.

The deal is being struck directly by the US Navy, which has allowed Lockheed Martin to expedite the delivery of three MH-60R helicopters. This will provide training to Indian Navy pilots and engineers on these helicopters. The first batch of MH-60R helicopters will arrive to India from the US next year.