Last HH-60H Helicopters to Be Retired This Year

U.S. Air Force 320th Special Tactics Squadron combat controllers and U.S. Marine Corps 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion operators exit two U.S. Navy HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopters assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron-85 (HSC-85), shown here following their extraction July 13, 2017, from Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland Australia. U.S. Air Force / Capt. Jessica Tait

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy will retire is last HH-60H Seahawk special operations support helicopters this year, an official said.

Speaking to an audience at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland, Marine Maj. Gen Greg Masiello, the Navy’s program executive officer for Air, ASW, Assault and Special Mission PEO (A), said the last seven of the HH-60Hs in the inventory would be retired and replaced by the next-generation Seahawk, the MH-60S.

The HH-60H is flown by reserve Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85 and deploys in support of Navy special warfare forces and other forces.

MH-60S helicopters for the squadron will be modified with the 7.62 mm GAU-17 six-barrel rotary machine gun used for fire suppression.

The HH-60H is the last of three Seahawk versions from the H-60’s initial naval service: the SH-60B, SH-60F, and HH-60H. The MH-60R and MH-60S are the latest versions in the Navy.