U.S. Air Force announced helicopter acquisition plan
26 Apr
The U.S. Air Force said on Monday that it will hold a competition for 93 new helicopters to replace UH-1N Huey helicopters that are protecting the country’s nuclear missile bases.
The Air Force secretary and chief of staff have directed that the service proceed with full and open competition for both the Common Vertical Lift Support Platform program and the HH-60 recapitalization program.
These two programs will hold separate competitions using their respective capability development documents approved by the joint requirements oversight council to meet the warfighter requirements.
“The Air Force ultimately benefits from competition and allows industry to fully play in these acquisition programs,” said Maj. Gen. Randal D. Fullhart, the global reach programs capability director. “We anticipate, based on market research and industry response to requests for information, that a derivative of helicopters already in production will be able to meet warfighter requirements.”
The CVLSP program fills identified capability gaps while replacing the current Air Force UH-1N Huey fleet, in which service officials noted deficiencies in carrying capacity, speed, range, endurance and survivability, General Fullhart said.
The fleet will consist of 93 aircraft spread among Air Force Global Strike Command, the Air Force District of Washington and other major commands, he added.
“For CVLSP we’re anticipating a summer 2011 draft request for proposal release and the final RFP early fall,” General Fullhart said. “We’re proceeding toward an initial operating capability for common vertical lift support platform program in 2015.”
While a long-term replacement remains critical, General Fullhart points out that 13 Pave Hawks have been lost to combat, training and civil rescue missions, and 54 of the remaining 99 HH-60G aircraft are currently undergoing repairs to correct major structural cracks.
In response, service officials have implemented a short-term solution, the operational loss replacement program, to maintain current CSAR capability.
Tags: Air Force UH-1N Huey, HH-60, HH-60 Pavehawk, HH-60G aircraft, Huey helicopter, Pave Hawk, UH-1N, UH-1N Huey, UH-1N Huey helicopter
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