THE first of 24 new Royal Australian Navy MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopters to be based at HMAS Albatross has arrived home. The new generation helicopter was brought back to the naval airbase on-board an Air Force C17. Unfortunately, Nowra didn’t turn on its best weather for the arrival of the “new bird”, with driving rain and strong winds proving less than welcoming, but Commander of the Fleet Air Arm Commodore Vince Di Pietro said even the “horrible weather” couldn’t dampen what was “a special occasion”. “This is a great thing for the navy, the Fleet Air Arm and HMAS Albatross,” he said. “This is truly fantastic. Bloody exciting. “This aircraft will serve us for the best part of the next three decades and as I have said before there are people who will fly this aircraft whose parents haven’t even met yet.” The Romeos will form 725 Squadron and are set to be the RAN’s next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface warfare helicopter, and the cornerstone of the navy’s aviation combat capability, carrying both Mk 54 torpedos and Hellfire missiles. The arrival took on even more significance for Commodore Di Pietro, as he was part of the attache in Washington when discussions were first held in 2008 to purchase the Romeo helicopters. “We’ve come a long way and here we are the first one home in Australia, it is an exciting day,” he said. Commodore Di Pietro was like an expectant father as he waited for the first of the helos to be cleared by customs and unloaded. Once given the OK, he boarded the giant transport plane and inspected the new helicopter. The first Romeo was joined on the trip from Jacksonville Florida by a B-Romeo, a modified B Seahawk which, although it won’t take to the air, will be used by air crew and maintainers for training purposes. It is expected to have the Romeo in the air by November, starting air trials, with the next aircraft due back in the country in coming weeks. The first of the 112 personnel who went to the US for training have also started returning to the base, with the majority expected to be home by Christmas. In another Shoalhaven connection, the captain of the C-17 Flight Officer Nick Tickner grew up in North Nowra, where his parents still live. “It was great to bring the first of the Romeos back to my home town, and especially Albatross where I learnt to fly at the local aero club,” he said.
PROUD: Commander of the Fleet Air Arm Commodore Vince Di Pietro with the first MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopter to return to HMAS Albatross.
THE first of 24 new Royal Australian Navy MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopters to be based at HMAS Albatross has arrived home.
The new generation helicopter was brought back to the naval airbase on-board an Air Force C17.
Unfortunately, Nowra didn’t turn on its best weather for the arrival of the “new bird”, with driving rain and strong winds proving less than welcoming, but Commander of the Fleet Air Arm Commodore Vince Di Pietro said even the “horrible weather” couldn’t dampen what was “a special occasion”.
“This is a great thing for the navy, the Fleet Air Arm and HMAS Albatross,” he said.
“This is truly fantastic. Bloody exciting.
“This aircraft will serve us for the best part of the next three decades and as I have said before there are people who will fly this aircraft whose parents haven’t even met yet.”
The Romeos will form 725 Squadron and are set to be the RAN’s next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface warfare helicopter, and the cornerstone of the navy’s aviation combat capability, carrying both Mk 54 torpedos and Hellfire missiles.
The arrival took on even more significance for Commodore Di Pietro, as he was part of the attache in Washington when discussions were first held in 2008 to purchase the Romeo helicopters.
“We’ve come a long way and here we are the first one home in Australia, it is an exciting day,” he said.
Commodore Di Pietro was like an expectant father as he waited for the first of the helos to be cleared by customs and unloaded.
Once given the OK, he boarded the giant transport plane and inspected the new helicopter.
The first Romeo was joined on the trip from Jacksonville Florida by a B-Romeo, a modified B Seahawk which, although it won’t take to the air, will be used by air crew and maintainers for training purposes.
It is expected to have the Romeo in the air by November, starting air trials, with the next aircraft due back in the country in coming weeks.
The first of the 112 personnel who went to the US for training have also started returning to the base, with the majority expected to be home by Christmas.
In another Shoalhaven connection, the captain of the C-17 Flight Officer Nick Tickner grew up in North Nowra, where his parents still live.
“It was great to bring the first of the Romeos back to my home town, and especially Albatross where I learnt to fly at the local aero club,” he said.
