SAN DIEGO – The last class of Indian Navy students graduated from the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU) North Island’s MH-60R Organizational Maintenance Level courses in late July.
 
Back in June 2021, CNATTU North Island welcomed the initial cadre of 14 Indian Naval officers and enlisted members to start the MH-60R Organizational Level Maintenance courses.  The courses were designed for aviation machinist mates (AD), aviation electrician’s mate (AE), aviation structural mechanic (AM), aviation ordnanceman (AO) and aviation electronics technician (AT) ratings within the U.S. Navy have been tailored to meet the requirements for aircraft and systems purchased by the Indian Navy through foreign military sales.  Their first in-country delivery of two MH-60R helicopters took place July 28, with a total of 24 MH-60R helicopters to be delivered by 2025.
 
The last Indian Navy graduating class of students were extremely engaged in the lessons and eager to learn.  They were very hands-on in the laboratory environments, going above and beyond what instructors typically see from students.  They were exceptionally polite, courteous, and maintained excellent levels of good order and discipline.
 
The Indian Navy maintenance ratings are different from the U.S. Navy maintenance ratings.  They have four maintenance rates: aviation engineers which is a combined AM and AD rating equivalent, aviation linemen which is the equivalent of AE rating, aviation ordnancemen, and aviation radiomen which is the equivalent of the AT rating.  Additionally, to put it in perspective, they also have maintenance officer trades which are aviation engineer officers (AEO) who attended the AM, AD, AO courses and aviation linemen officer (ALO) who attended the AT, AE, and wire systems repair (WSR) courses.
 
The maintenance training program was led by Mathias Brooks, who instructed the AE course; accompanied by Mike Jacildo (AT), Froilan Sarmiento (AD), Jason Lyle (AO), and Michael Barry (AM) teaching their respective courses.  Their team of instructors professionally convened 19 courses that graduated 68 students and issued 103 graduation certificates overall. 
 
CNATTU North Island takes great pride in commending the group of Indian Naval personnel who went through the courses as well as the civilian instructors who professionally delivered the training.  
 
“We started this journey over two years ago with a lot of hard work with multiple agencies and wondering if we were going to start on time,” Cmdr. Kent Davis, CNATTU North Island commanding officer, said.  “My team spent many hours rewriting curriculum to support the India project and watching their reaction on the first class 18 months ago validated why we are here.  It's been a great experience with all the interactions between the students and staff.”