Sikorsky CH-53K Super Stallion

Marine CH-53K Faces Multiyear Slide

The first flight of the U.S. Marine Corps’ heavy lifter CH-53K helicopter has slipped two years to 2013, while its initial operational capability (IOC) has slid three years to 2018, officials have confirmed to AVIATION WEEK.
The date slips come as no surprise to the Marines and the CH-53K program office at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair). In January 2009, program manager Capt. Rick Muldoon submitted a Program Deviation Report for the aircraft’s critical design review (CDR) to the Pentagon acquisition headquarters. The CDR is now slated for September, representing a year’s delay.
“The FY ’18 IOC was directly tied to the [FY ’11] presidential budget,” Muldoon tells Aviation Week. The Marines had been hesitant to reveal new program milestone dates until the budget was finalized. “I needed to know the funding profile” prior to confirming a new plan for the aircraft, Muldoon says. “We’re delivering to the current execution schedule we laid in place, which ties in nicely to the FY ’18 IOC.”
Muldoon says the original CH-53K schedule was “overly aggressive.” The push to 2018 allows more time for manufacturer Sikorsky, the Navy and Marines to achieve the right technical maturity on all the aircraft systems. Muldoon says the date also dovetails better with the Navy’s 2014 future budget consideration of the CH-53K for its own heavy-lift needs. And it will help provide a full-rate production aircraft for pitching to prospective international customers.
This coming fall, Navair will perform a contract modification and revised acquisition program baseline. “This is not a do-over of the contract,” he says. “We’re just continuing to do as we always do … As we make changes we determine the scope and make appropriate modifications.”

Navair: Interest In CH-53K Remains Strong

Germany, Israel and Taiwan top the list of countries interested in Sikorsky’s new CH-53K, now scheduled for first flight in 2013.
The heavy lifter, which is headed for service with the U.S. Marine Corps, has suffered from delays, including a slip in initial operational capability of three years, to 2018. The delays seem not to faze the Marines and the CH-53K program office at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair). The extra time “buys [foreign countries] time to make an informed decision,” says Capt. Rick Muldoon, program manager.
Germany operates about 80 CH-53D model aircraft, designated the CH-53G, 40 of which it is upgrading. Eventually, Germany hopes to replace its CH-53 fleet, and the French want to establish a heavy-lift capability for themselves. A key design feature of the future helicopter involves carrying a load internally rather than using sling loads.
Capt. Muldoon feels the CH-53K would be an excellent replacement, and says the internal load requirement misses the point. The CH-53G does not have the capacity even of the CH-53E, which can fly between 125-130 kt. with a stable load hooked to a dual-point system.
“Part of what’s driving their requirement is there’s a perception that you have to bring a load internally so you can go faster,” Muldoon says. “The other argument is that you are vulnerable with an external load.” The Marines disagree, and are providing the Germans with data to demonstrate the CH-53E’s external load capacity. The CH-53K will be able to carry triple loads, a single load on a main hook or a dual-point load, Muldoon says.
The Germans joined representatives from Israel recently for a technical coordination group meeting with Navair to discuss the CH-53K. Taiwan also has “voiced interest” in the aircraft, Muldoon says, and is probably seeking a fleet of about a dozen. Taiwan is interested in have a minesweeping capability on its CH-53K, but without a requirement for that capability on U.S. platforms, that element remains unresolved. Muldoon says the Navy will look at that issue in time for discussions affecting the Fiscal 2014 budget cycle. “We’ll discuss heavy lift and whether airborne mine countermeasures get folded into that,” he says.

Progress in the ongoing development of the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift helicopter replacement, the Sikorsky CH-53K, has been announced with the delivery of the prototype aircraft to the flight test team.

This means that NAVAIR and Sikorsky pilots can begin the program of scheduled ground checks that will take place over the next year.

Production of the ground test vehicle (GTV) began in July 2011. It will undergo hundreds of hours of testing, the purpose of which is to “shake out the CH-53K helicopter’s dynamic systems by thoroughly testing and measuring the performance of the rotor blades, transmission, and engines while the aircraft is tied to the ground,” stated Michael Torok, Sikorsky’s CH-53K program vice president.

2010 that the main rotor blade and main gear box near were developed into maturity, states the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its Assessment of Selected Weapons Programs issued in March 2012.

Four flight test helicopters will join the testing program during 2014-2015.

There is still a distance to go on this program with the low rate production decision set for late summer 2015 and an initial operating capability (IOC) not expected before 2019.

In 2008, USMC directed that the acquisition should increase from 156 CH-53Ks to 200 in line with an expected increase in marine numbers from 174,000 to 202,000.

However, in August 2011 it was stated that USMC numbers could fall by 20,000 starting in 2015.

The GAO reports that in the same month “the contract’s schedule was re-baselined and several key production and testing events were delayed.

For example, the delivery dates for the program’s engineering development models were moved back and its first flight was delayed from 2013 to 2014.”

However, the announcement that the GTV is now ready was described as “an important point of transition” by Col. Robert Pridgen, program manager for heavy lift helicopters. “I am encouraged by the initial results of our testing at the component and subsystem level.

Now we bring it all together.

The GTV is our first dynamic system-level integration of those same components.”

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