Sikorsky Australia, a Lockheed Martin company, has been awarded an AUD$10m contract to deliver additional sustainment support services for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) fleet of 24 MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters.

The contract will see the creation of 10 new positions in Sikorsky Australia’s purpose-built Maintenance and Logistics Support facility in Nowra NSW.

Sikorsky Australia’s current through-life sustainment support services contract scope has been expanded to incorporate intermediate level component maintenance on an additional 21 components onboard the MH-60R helicopter. This important work further assures the sovereign supply chain for the MH-60R, ensuring all repair work is performed in Australia by Australians.

The increased work scope will further bolster Sikorsky Australia’s advanced sovereign capability to Australia in maintaining the RAN’s fleet of MH-60R. This sovereign sustainment has generated $64m of total economic impact in the local region, supported 510 jobs including 261 external jobs through Sikorsky Australia’s supply chain and induced spending, 142 of which are in the Shoalhaven region where the MH-60R fleet is based.

To date, Sikorsky Australia has completed over 100,000 maintenance hours in sustaining the fleet of MH-60R helicopters ensuring peak flight readiness for the duration of the fleet’s lifespan.

The Sikorsky Australia team in partnership with the RAN’s Fleet Air Arm will continue to proudly work hand-in-hand to provide comprehensive through-life sustainment support to the MH-60R fleet when on base and on deployment. This includes maintenance, training, warehousing, supply support system and test equipment services.

Blair Drinkwater, Business Development Manager, Rotary Wing, Lockheed Martin Australia, reflected on the importance of the contract scope extension and said “The scope to repair and maintain an additional 21 components in support of the MH-60R is great news for jobs in the Shoalhaven region. It will mean 10 new positions are added to our local workforce, providing new job opportunities for people seeking an exciting career in aircraft maintenance.”

Lockheed Martin Australia chief executive Joe North said the recent contract extension reaffirmed Sikorsky Australia as the Fleet Air Arm’s trusted MH-60R sustainment partner.

“Our 185-strong Sikorsky Australia team in Nowra has truly proven its worth as the sustainment partner of choice to the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm and is an exemplar of Australian industry capability in action,” he said.

“Our Sikorsky Australia engineers are highly mission focused and are extremely proud to work alongside Royal Australian Navy service personnel every day to ensure the MH-60R fleet is operationally ready for current and future maritime operations,” Mr. North said.

The MH-60R fleet was built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, with the mission systems integrated and the full fleet delivered to the Royal Australian Navy by Lockheed Martin in 2016.