iscover
The first of the Royal Australian Navy’s 24 MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ combat helicopters arrived at HMAS Albatross, Nowra, earlier this week.
The first Romeo and a non-flying MH-60R ‘Bromeo’ maintenance training aid airframe, which will be used to train aircrew and maintainers, were transported aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster from NAS Jacksonville, Florida, where they had been operated by NUSQN 725.
Commander Fleet Air Arm Commodore Vince Di Pietro was on hand to inspect the Romeo, one of 24 on order to be operated by 725 and 816 Squadrons from Albatross.
“We’ve come a long way and here we are, the first one home in Australia; it is an exciting day,” he told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.
The first Romeo is expected to be back in the air by November. It will be fitted with flight test instrumentation to commence first-of-type flight trials with the RAN’s Anzac class frigates.
NUSQN 725 – which will commission as 725SQN in 2015 – has been operating the Romeo from Jacksonville since January. All five of its Romeos and 122 personnel are expected to be back in Nowra by Christmas.
A profile on NUSQN 725 will appear in the November issue of Australian Aviation.
adammudhen
says:Nice and smooth project. Off the shelf does have it’s benefits. Plus, love the old B model/Bromeo tag lol
Captain
says:What nice weather for the arrival!!
William
says:Nowra turned on its best weather by the looks of it
Athol
says:can imagine the frustrated bureaucrats who want to get out there and start modding it just to justify their jobs existence
Darren
says:Love the fact that with nothing more than folding it up like you would on a ship you can park it in the back of a C-17 and bring it home. Or for that matter deploy it quickly almost anywhere. Even better that we own the C-17. Great aircraft and great capabilities for the RAAF and RAN to have.
Andrew
says:Darren – RAAF C-17s have been flying Seahawks over to Perth for exercises and ship deployments ever since they entered service, a great saving on airframe hours for the helos.
Martin
says:Athol,
I don’t know of any “frustrated bureaucrats” who would want to start modding an acquisition just to justify their jobs existence. Can you explain were you get that feeling from??
Raymond
says:Martin – it’s just a prejudicial mindset of some people, probably in most part due to major unfavourable media coverage of defence projects that have ‘gone bad’. Never mind all the projects that don’t get a great deal of lauding because they’ve been a complete success.