Replacing Seahawk?

The hunt for Australia’s next naval helicopter

It is the last big piece of the ADF’s ambitious Air 9000 helicopter rationalisation program to fall into place – what to do with naval helicopters now the Seasprite has been cancelled and the current Seahawk fleet is overstretched.

There are two likely contenders to replace the Seahawk and forgone Seasprite capability in the Sikorsky MH-60R ‘Romeo’ and the Eurocopter NFH90, but the selection of either one represents a trade-off – in the MH-60R a loss of commonality for the ADF helicopter fleet, and in the NFH90 a later availability and some program and schedule risk.