{"id":64360,"date":"2026-04-06T23:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=64360"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T19:39:27","slug":"a-deployment-of-us-mh-60r-helicopters-on-the-spanish-ship-juan-carlos-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/04\/06\/a-deployment-of-us-mh-60r-helicopters-on-the-spanish-ship-juan-carlos-i\/","title":{"rendered":"A deployment of US MH-60R helicopters on the Spanish ship 'Juan Carlos I'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although relations between Spain and the United States are not at their best, collaboration between their armed forces continues.<\/p>\n

The US Navy shows its intention to remain at the Spanish naval station of Rota<\/a><\/rel>
\nMH-60R Seahawk: this is the new multi-mission helicopter that the Spanish Navy will receive<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Last Saturday, the official @NAVSTA_Rota account<\/a>, which serves as a communication channel for U.S. forces stationed at Naval Base Rota in Spain, reported: \"Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 79 conducted a bilateral training event<\/strong> with the Armada's 10th Helicopter Squadron and the Juan Carlos I-class aircraft carrier landing helicopter dock SPS Juan Carlos I (L 61)<\/strong> on March 18 to increase interoperability and capability.\"<\/em> The account's message included four photos of the exercise, which took place in the waters of the Bay of C\u00e1diz.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

That same day, the US Armed Forces' multimedia portal DVIDShub.net published a series of photos of that exercise<\/a>, noting that the training took place within the framework of the Spanish Navy's Pilot Exchange Program<\/strong>, \"increasing interoperability, logistics and mission lethality among partner nations.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The HSM-79 \"Griffins\" is a U.S. Navy helicopter unit based in Rota, Spain.<\/strong> The squadron was created on June 2, 2016, and its radio call sign is \"Sentinel.\" Its missions are anti-surface warfare (SUW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW)<\/strong>, for which it is equipped with Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk<\/a> helicopters. These aircraft operate from the flight decks of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that the U.S. Navy has deployed in Rota as part of NATO's missile defense shield.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the MH-60R Seahawk is the helicopter model that the 10th Squadron expects to receive<\/a> to replace its aging SH-60B Seahawks.<\/strong> The first six helicopters of this type, all of the initial variant, arrived in Spain on December 22, 1988. In October 2002, the 10th Squadron received another six SH-60Bs of the SH60B Block I variant, proceeding to modernize the initial six SH-60Bs to the Block I Core B variant. The arrival of the first Spanish MH-60Rs from a batch of eight is expected in October 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In the images released by the US, we see an MH-60R from HSM-79 \"Griffins\" on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier \"Juan Carlos\" L-61<\/strong> (it is the one closest to the stern of the ship). In front of it, we can see an SH-60F Seahawk from the 10th Squadron<\/strong> (a model operated until recently by the 5th Squadron, disbanded in January<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The \"Griffins\" and the 10th Squadron were not alone in this exercise.<\/strong> In the photos (click on the images to enlarge them) we can clearly see that on one side of the aircraft carrier island there was a Eurocopter AS-532 Cougar transport helicopter<\/strong> from the Spanish Army's Airmobile Forces (FAMET) and, further towards the bow, two Eurocopter EC-665 Tiger attack helicopters<\/strong>, the latter operated by the FAMET's 1st Attack Helicopter Battalion (BHELA I).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here we see the Spanish SH-60F that participated in this exercise.<\/strong> Spain purchased eight SH-60Fs from the United States to replace its SH-3D Sea Kings, which were retired from service in June 2022. The first SH-60Fs arrived in Spain in 2017<\/strong>; these were second-hand units that had previously been operated by the U.S. Navy. These helicopters are used for tactical transport and special operations infiltration missions.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In these last photos we see the naval aviators of HSM-79 \"Griffins\" with their Spanish colleagues from the 10th Squadron<\/strong>. The first one, above, was taken on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier \"Juan Carlos I\". The last three appear to have been taken at the HSM-79 base in Rota. On the right arm of one of the American aviators we see a patch of the III Detachment of HSM-79<\/strong>, assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), which is based in Rota (it is one of the ships of the aforementioned missile defense shield).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Photos: U.S. Navy photo \/ Mass Communication Specialist Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan P. Nye<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although relations between Spain and the United States are not at their best, collaboration between their armed forces continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19534,11545],"tags":[8303,11229,6604,7148,6607,1048,26655,12825,19930,1859,10557,10669,319,19065],"class_list":["post-64360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-portada-eng","category-navy","tag-10a-escuadrilla","tag-aircraft-carrier-juan-carlos-i-l61","tag-batallon-de-helicopteros-de-ataque-no-1-bhela-i","tag-eurocopter-as-532-cougar","tag-eurocopter-ec665-tigre","tag-famet","tag-helicopter-maritime-strike-squadron-hsm-79-griffins","tag-naval-station-rota","tag-sikorsky-mh-60-seahawk","tag-sikorsky-sh-60-seahawk","tag-spanish-army","tag-spanish-navy","tag-us-navy","tag-uss-bulkeley-ddg-84"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-12 05:24:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}