USAF Awards Sikorsky, Lockheed CSAR Helicopter Contract

The US Air Force awarded Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin a contract Thursday for the Combat Rescue Helicopter program.
The deal for 112 Sikorsky Black Hawks, outfitted with Lockheed mission equipment, brings to a close a more than decade-long Air Force quest to purchase a replacement for its HH-60G combat search-and-rescue helicopters. The Sikorsky-Lockheed team was the only bidder in the competition.
The program had been star-crossed. Over a more than 15-year period, the Air Force unsuccessfully tried to acquire new machines to replace battle-worn HH-60G Pave Hawks. A 2006 deal to buy Boeing Chinooks fell apart due to mistakes made when the Air Force evaluated bids.
Since then, the program was delayed, mainly due to internal Pentagon squabbling. Air Force officials debated the mission requirements and whether the effort should be combined with a separate Air Force helicopter program. Air Force Special Operations Command tried to take over the mission from Air Combat Command, while other services questioned the need for the entire combat search-and-rescue mission.
When all of those issues were finally put to bed, the one-time No. 2 Air Force acquisition priority completely fell off the list. By 2013, the Air Force budget had tightened and sequestration hit the Pentagon.
defensenews

U.S. military resumes HH-60 helicopter flights after accident

The U.S. military resumed flight operations of the HH-60 helicopter in Okinawa on Friday, saying they found no abnormalities in other choppers of the same type following a fatal accident last week.
The cause of the Aug. 5 crash, which occurred within the premises of Camp Hansen and killed one crew member, has yet to be identified and local governments and residents were quick to show their opposition to the resumption of the flights.
globalpost

Planes de la USAF para sustituir a los Pave Hawk HH-60/USAF Releases New Plan To Replace Pave Hawk

La USAF está intentando sustituir a uno 100 helicópteros HH-60G Pave Hawk por un nuevo diseño. El plan prevee conceder un contrato en 2012, y conseguir la capacidad operativa inicial en 2015 con ocho unidades. Los nuevos helicópteros deberán poder volar unas 250 millas (ida y vuelta), sin necesidad de reabastecerse, mantener una velocidad de 143 millas por hora y alcanzar los 6.000 pies de altura de vuelo a plena carga. Este programa, es el sucesor del cancelado por irregularidades contables. La USAF tiene la intención de adquirir nueve HH-60M en los próximos nueve años para reemplazar bajas.
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The U.S. Air Force is trying a second time to replace its approximately 100 HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters with a newly designed helicopter.The U.S. Air Force has come up with a new strategy to replace its aging HH-60G helicopter fleet. The new plan, released March 23 by the Aeronautical Systems Center, calls for awarding a contract in 2012 and reaching initial operational capability with eight aircraft by September 2015. No date has been set for replacing all HH-60Gs.
The new helicopter should be able to fly about 250 miles out and back without refueling, as well as reach a sustained speed of at least 143 mph and hover at 6,000 feet fully loaded.
The HH-60 recapitalization program is a successor to the canceled Combat Search and Rescue-X project, killed last year by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A rescue version of Boeing's HH-47 Chinook won the CSAR-X competition in 2006, but the Air Force withdrew the contract award after the Government Accountability Office faulted the service's evaluation of entries from Boeing, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin.
The Air Force also has a $313 million project to buy nine HH-60Ms in the next two years to replace HH-60Gs that are old or have been lost in crashes.