State Department approves possible sale of MH-60R helicopters to Spain

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department approved the sale of up to eight MH-60R multi-mission helicopters to Spain in a deal potentially worth $950 million.

The sale would also include a range of weapons and systems — Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II guidance sections, communications equipment, Airborne Low Frequency Sonars, sonobuoys and more — to enable surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare by these ship-based helicopters.

According to a State Department notification released March 15, “The MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter will provide the capability to perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions along with the ability to perform secondary missions including vertical replenishment, search and rescue, and communications relay and will bolster the Spanish Navy’s ability to support NATO and remain interoperable with the U.S. and the NATO alliance.”

Spain has previously flown the older SH-60B Seahawk model.

A growing number of countries are buying and fielding Lockheed Martin’s MH-60R. Current Romeo customers include the U.S. Navy, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Saudi Naval Forces and the Hellenic Navy. In 2021, South Korea and India placed orders for the helicopters as well.

The helicopter would be particularly useful to Spain because of the built-in integration between the Romeo and Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Combat System, which Spain’s Álvaro de Bazán-class air-defense frigate is equipped with.

Megan Eckstein is the naval warfare reporter at Defense News. She has covered military news since 2009, with a focus on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations, acquisition programs and budgets. She has reported from four geographic fleets and is happiest when she’s filing stories from a ship. Megan is a University of Maryland alumna.

华盛顿——美国国务院批准向西班牙出售至多8架MH-60R多用途直升机，交易金额可能高达9.5亿美元。

此次军售还将包括一系列武器和系统——地狱火空对地导弹、先进精确杀伤武器系统（APKWS）II 制导组件、通信设备、机载低频声呐、声呐浮标等——以使这些舰载直升机能够进行水面作战、反潜作战和电子战。

根据美国国务院3月15日发布的一份通知，“MH-60R多用途直升机将具备执行反水面和反潜作战任务的能力，以及执行包括垂直补给、搜救和通信中继在内的辅助任务的能力，并将增强西班牙海军支持北约的能力，并保持与美国和北约联盟的互操作性。”

西班牙此前曾使用过较老的SH-60B海鹰直升机。

越来越多的国家正在采购并部署洛克希德·马丁公司的MH-60R直升机。目前，MH-60R的客户包括美国海军、丹麦皇家海军、澳大利亚皇家海军、沙特阿拉伯皇家海军和希腊海军。2021年，韩国和印度也订购了该型直升机。

由于罗密欧直升机与洛克希德·马丁公司的宙斯盾作战系统实现了内置集成，而西班牙的阿尔瓦罗·德·巴赞级防空护卫舰就配备了该系统，因此该直升机对西班牙来说尤其有用。

梅根·埃克斯坦是《防务新闻》的海军作战记者。自2009年以来，她一直从事军事新闻报道，主要关注美国海军和海军陆战队的行动、采购项目和预算。她曾报道过四个不同地理区域的舰队，最喜欢在舰艇上进行新闻报道。梅根毕业于马里兰大学。