The United States has approved the sale of 24 MH-60R helicopters to India, significantly boosting its ally’s anti-submarine capabilities.
The US State Department, granting an Indian request submitted late in 2018, told Congress that it was giving the go ahead for India to buy the helicopters, worth a total of $2.6 billion.
The MH-60R helicopters are designed for maritime operations including anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations and are intended to replace India’s aging fleet of British-built Sea King helicopters, which entered service in 1969.
The advanced helicopters, nicknamed the Romeo, are manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the same company responsible for designing the F-22 stealth fighter.
In a statement, the State Department said the sale “will support the foreign policy and national security of the US by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defensive partner”.
The State Department lauded India as “a major defensive partner”, adding that it “continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region”.
India has become a leading defense partner of the United States and a significant ally in US aims to counter the rise of Chinese military power in Asia.
Tensions in the Indian Ocean have risen due to the sharp increase in the number of Chinese naval bases there.
Indian naval planners have responded to the so-called “string of pearls” with a plan to safeguard freedom of movement throughout the Indian Ocean.