CH-53K

Abstract

The CH-53 is the only marinized heavy-lift helicopter in the world and is the Marine Corps only heavy-lift helicopter. The CH-53 mission is the conduct of expeditionary heavy-lift assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland from a sea-based center of operations. The CH-53E "Super Stallion" was introduced into operations in 1980 as an upgrade version of the CH-53D. The CH-53E has developed performance degradation, fatigue life, interoperability, maintenance supportability, and other operational concerns. An improved CH-53 is needed to support Marine Air-Ground Task Force heavy-lift requirements in the 21st century joint environment. The CH-53K will provide improvements in range and payload, performance, cargo handling and turn-around times, reliability and maintainability, interoperability, and survivability. The CH-53K program is required to provide full system capability, including shipboard compatibilities, at Initial Operational Capability (IOC). Total aircraft quantities for the CH-53K program are 205 helicopters. This includes one Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) and four Engineering Development Models (EDMs) for System Development and Demonstration (SDD), to be purchased with RDT&E funds. Of the remaining 200 Production-representative and Production aircraft, the first four Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) aircraft will be RDT&E funded and the last two will be Aircraft Procurement, Navy (APN) funded. LRIP RDT&E test asset aircraft will be incrementally funded beginning in FY12. The LRIP contract to procure the two APN Articles is scheduled to award in FY16, with an Advanced Acquisition Contract award in FY15. The RDT&E aircraft will be used for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation and the APN aircraft establishing the IOC production base. FY12 RDT&E efforts focus on CH-53K SDD activities that includes GTV and EDM fabrication and assembly, and preparation for ground and flight test.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2012
Source ID
0605212N_5_1319_PB_2012
Change Summary Explanation
Technical: Not applicable. Schedule: No changes.
Service Agency Name
Navy

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Navy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircrafts
  • Cargo Handling
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cost Analysis
  • Developmental Tests
  • Engineering
  • Helicopters
  • Logistics
  • Logistics Support
  • Procurement
  • Production
  • Program Management
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering

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