Lockheed Martin completed its initial deliveries of aircraft to the U.S. Navy’s first operational MH-60R helicopter maritime strike squadron, the HSM-71 Raptors, ensuring the squadron is ready for its deployment with an aircraft carrier strike group. The San Diego-based pilot and crew departed with the aircraft July 24 for the three-day journey home from Owego, NY.

Lockheed Martin is the prime air weapons systems integrator for the MH-60R, the Navy’s most advanced submarine hunting and surface warfare helicopter. The team has integrated and delivered 11 aircraft to HSM-71.

Cmdr. Michael Nortier, HSM-71 commanding officer, personally accepted delivery of the squadron’s final MH-60R helicopter after addressing industry and government team members in the hangar.

“The new systems and sensors on the MH-60R have expanded the support the helicopter community can provide to the Navy by an order of magnitude,” said Cmdr. Nortier. “The visual presentations this technology provides enable us to deploy quickly and effectively, putting our people where they need to be exactly when they need to be there.”

The HSM-71 squadron will deploy with the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group next year. It will be the first time the MH-60R will take the leading aircraft role in anti-submarine warfare.

The MH-60R replaces the Navy’s current fleet of SH-60B and SH-60F Seahawk helicopters and is designed primarily for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Secondary missions include search and rescue, vertical replenishment, naval surface fire support, logistics support, personnel transport, medical evacuation and communications and data relay.

In August 2007, the Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.065 billion multi-year contract to integrate an additional 139 MH-60R helicopters with advanced mission systems and avionics.