The US Navy has approved Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky to move to full rate production of the CH-53K helicopter at the company’s factories located in Stratford, Connecticut. Production at full speed will allow the company to increase the helicopter production rate to 20 helicopters in the coming years.
The decision to approve full-scale production will be carried out with the support of approximately 200 suppliers in 35 countries across the US, will help lower costs and streamline the supply chain for Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky and its partners worldwide. Today, the framework of the Marines’ general program includes the production of 200 helicopters.
The CH-53K helicopters are planned to gradually replace the Air Force’s CH-53D “Yasor” helicopters, which have been operating in a variety of missions for over 50 years. The new helicopters bring with them unprecedented capabilities, including high survivability on the battlefield, safety, efficiency and reducing the workload of the aircrew. In addition, the technical support in the helicopter is easier, more efficient and cheaper compared to the old helicopters.
“Increasing the rate of production of the world’s most advanced helicopters will allow the Marine Corps to build its helicopter fleet and meet its missions,” said Bill Falk, CH-53K helicopter program manager at Lockheed Martin Sikorsky. “Approving full-scale production will stabilize Sikorsky’s American supply chain in support of helicopter production, and is a testament to our cooperation with the Marine Corps.”
The Marines recently announced initial operational status (IOC) for the CH-53K helicopters. The initial operational phase is a very significant milestone for the helicopter program, as the last step before operational deployment and full activity as part of the operational needs of the Marines. The initial operational capability (Initial operational capability) was achieved in a joint activity of Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky, the US Navy and the Marines, after the completion of the evaluation and initial operational tests (IOT&E) phase which included a wide range of flight tests, in many descriptions, which were designed to verify the helicopter’s capabilities to operate in accordance with the design . In addition, the completion of initial operations paves the way for approval for full-scale production of the CH-53K helicopters during the year 2023. All the CH-53K helicopters performed a cumulative 3,000 flight hours, during which the helicopter’s capabilities were demonstrated in a wide variety of scenarios and flight tests, in combination with ground forces and air and ground crews. Among the experiments performed: flight in poor visibility conditions (DVE), 350 landings on ships, aerial refueling – day and night, including while carrying an external weight of 27,000 pounds, a climate laboratory to withstand temperatures of between 40 and 50 degrees, airborne deployment of selected forces from a brigade , a demonstration of live fire from a machine gun mounted on a helicopter and more.
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