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 "King Stallion" will provide improvements in range and payload, performance, cargo handling, 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 Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) funds. Of the remaining 200 aircraft, six will be System Demonstration Test Articles (SDTAs) and will be incrementally funded using RDT&E funds. The SDTAs will be used to prove out production and integration processes on a pilot production line, and to provide aircraft for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation. The remaining 194 aircraft will be Aircraft Procurement, Navy funded. FY17 RDT&E funds CH-53K SDD activities which include: ground and flight test of GTV, EDMs and SDTAs, associated subsystems and components, and the continued fabrication and assembly of remaining SDTAs. Additionally, the program takes delivery of the first (4) SDTA aircraft. JUSTIFICATION FOR BUDGET ACTIVITY: This program is funded under SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION because it includes those projects that have passed Milestone B approval and are conducting engineering and manufacturing development tasks aimed at meeting validated requirements prior to full-rate production decision.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2017
Source ID
0605212N_5_1319_PB_2017
Change Summary Explanation
The FY 2017 funding request was reduced by $60.943M to account for the availability of prior year execution balances. Technical: Not applicable. Schedule: Driven primarily by component re-design, re-qualification and re-test the Developmental and Initial Operational T&E programs have lengthened, resulting in CH-53K Milestone C moving into 2nd quarter FY2017, and IOC into 1st quarter FY2020. LRIP 1 Advance Acquisition Contract (AAC) award moved into 2nd quarter FY2016 to align with release of funds for new-start CH-53K production program. This delay does not impact FY2017 LRIP 1 award.
Service Agency Name
Navy

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Navy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircrafts
  • Armored Vehicles
  • Assembly
  • Cargo Handling
  • Contracts
  • Developmental Tests
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Logistics
  • Manufacturing
  • Procurement
  • Production
  • Program Management
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering

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