Govt approves acquisition of 24 US-made MH-60 choppers for Navy

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday gave its nod to the acquisition of 24 US-made MH-60 Romeo multi-role helicopters worth around USD 2.5 billion for the Indian Navy, government sources said.

The clearance came days ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to India.

The helicopters are designed for hunting submarines as well as knocking out ships and conducting search-and-rescue operations at sea. The Lockheed Martin-built helicopters would replace India's ageing fleet of British-made Sea King helicopters.

India and US would make an announcement regarding the MH-60 Romeo choppers and the six Apache attack helicopters for the Army during the visit of American President on February 24-25.

The MH-60 Romeo choppers are being acquired by the Navy after several failed attempts to replace their Sea King fleet.

The last deal was scrapped after the American Sikorsky Helicopters and Defence Ministry failed to agree on the price of the choppers.

Due to the long delays in the acquisition of multi-role helicopters, Indian Navy adopted the government-to-government route for acquiring these choppers to save time instead of going in for the multi-vendor tender route.