Navy Helicopter Goes Down in Arabian Sea; Search Ongoing for Missing Crew Member

A search effort is underway for a missing crew member of a U.S. Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter that went down in the Arabian Sea on July 1.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which oversees naval operations in the waterways of the Middle East, announced that the helicopter conducted an “emergency water landing” at about 3:30 a.m. ET. The helicopter was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush.

Three of the helicopter’s four flight crew members have been recovered and were reported to be in stable condition after being returned to the George H.W. Bush.

The cause of the emergency incident is under investigation, but the 5th Fleet reported that there was no apparent sign that it was the result of hostile action.

This emergency incident comes about three weeks after a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down off the coast of Oman. The U.S. government assessed that an Iranian drone was responsible for downing the U.S. helicopter on June 8, and U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a round of strikes on Iran in retaliation.

An unmanned sea drone was the first to reach the two flight crew members of the downed Apache helicopter and transferred them to a rescue helicopter. That rescue effort took approximately two hours.

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5 operates MH-60S helicopters for the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group, which deployed in March and reached the U.S. Central Command area of operations in the Middle East on April 23 after sailing around the southern coast of Africa.

After arriving in the Central Command area of operations, the Bush carrier strike group supported a blockade of Iranian ports and maritime trade.

While the United States and Iran entered into an expanded ceasefire and framework for continuing negotiations on June 17, the Bush carrier strike group and the strike group assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln remain in the region as tensions simmer.

U.S. forces conducted new strikes on Iran last week in response to attacks that targeted commercial ships in the region.

The MH-60S is one of two Sea Hawk variants currently operated by the Navy, with the other being the MH-60R. Both variants are derived from the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

The MH-60S is designated for a variety of roles, including search and rescue, anti-surface warfare, airborne mine countermeasures, and combat support missions.

This is a developing report and will be updated with additional details.