The competition will be between Team Romeo with the MH-60R Seahawk and the Eurocopter / Australian Aerospace NH 90 Naval Frigate Helicopter (NFH) variant.Other highlights have been the recent delivery of the 50th MH-60R to the US Navy, which currently has 139 on order, and the first deliveries of the NH 90 NFH to the Navies of the Netherlands and France. Most recently, the release of a request for tender to the two bidders occurred in May.
By the end of last year, many Defence analysts were predicting that Team Romeo (an industry consortium comprising Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Raytheon and CAE) would be successful in a straight Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procurement of up to 24 USN-standard MH-60R helicopters. It was suggested that the urgency of the requirement in the wake of the Seasprite debacle, coupled with the consequent aversion to any form of risk taking by senior officers and Defence bureaucrats, would push the American product over the line.
Of course this was not what Eurocopter-subsidiary Australian Aerospace wants as an outcome, as their competing NH 90 NFH, despite a high level of commonality with Australian Army and Navy MRH 90 transport helicopters, is considered not as far along the development path as is the MH-60R.
We want a competition, as we believe this is the best thing for the Australian Defence Force, said Australian Aerospace CEO Dr Jens Goennemann at the recent Pacific 2010 Naval show held in Sydney.
In a major public relations coup Australian Aerospace brought an Italian developmental NFH to Australia aboard a giant Russian Antonov freighter and displayed it to the thousands of people watching the Australia Day celebrations on Sydney Harbour. The fully-equipped NFH also flew at the Pacific 2010 conference before demonstrating its capabilities to RAN personnel in a series of simulated missions at the home of Naval Aviation at Nowra.