New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Sikorsky CH-53K helicopters evokes images of ‘space ship’
The new Sikorsky CH-53K looks similar to its predecessors that have been in service with the U.S. Marine Corps since the Vietnam War-era. But the similarities are only skin deep, according to Lt. General Mark Wise.
The CH-53K is the successor to the CH-53E Super Stallion, which first flew in 1974. But the advance of technology means that it is essentially a brand new aircraft, Wise said.
“People think this is a CH-53E with some upgrades,” he said. “But in comparison, this might as well be a space ship.”
Wise was among a group of elected officials and Sikorsky management that introduced the new helicopter at an official event Friday. Company President Paul Lemmo agreed that the new K-series, nicknamed the King Stallion, represented a huge advance in aviation technology.
The King Stallion is expected to fill the heavy-lift and cargo-carrying role for the Marines for the next 30 years.
“If you were to look at this next to the 53E, you would think they look pretty similar,” Lemmo said pointing to the helicopter — the first production model intended for delivery into military service to roll off the assembly line — that sat parked inside a hangar at Sikorsky’s Stratford manufacturing plant.
Among the advances the new 53K has over its predecessor are double the lifting capacity — up to 27,000 pounds, Lemmo said.
“It has more advanced engines, more advanced rotors, and it’s fully computer controlled,” Lemmo said. “Its digital flight controls could enable it to almost fly itself if the pilot had a problem or there was no visibility.”
Marine Col. Jack Perrin, a self-described “53 guy” who heads the Marines’ heavy lift helicopter program, predicted great things for the program and the individual helicopter on display.
“It’s going to save lives,” he said. “Someone is going to fly this aircraft into a combat zone. It’s going to provide them with the things they need, and pull them out when they need to move. That’s amazing.”
Perrin said he had about 2,500 hours aboard previous generation CH-53s, and “never had a bad experience” in one.
“I’ve had a lot of hairy days, but it always got me home,” he said.
If the new CH-53K is not yet saving lives, it is saving equipment, said Stephanie Hill, executive vice president of rotary and mission systems for Sikorsky’s parent company, Lockheed Martin.
A pre-production model retrieved an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter that experienced a hard landing on a high altitude ridge earlier this month.
“Only one unit had the capability to perform the mission without taking the helicopter apart,” she said. Seeing photos of the rescue had filled her with “immense pride and joy,” she said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., credited Sikorsky’s labor force as being an important link in the chain from aircraft designers to parts suppliers to the pilots that will fly combat or humanitarian missions.
“When we write the military budgets, I can tell you, I say, ‘You have to see this to believe it, because it is a wondrous feat of engineering,’” he said. To someone present at the beginning of helicopter flight, modern aircraft would be “almost unintelligible,” he said.
According to Lemmo, the CH-53K program calls for the production of 200 aircraft over 15 years. With the first production helicopter complete, the rate of assembly will gradually ramp up over the next three to four years until the company is manufacturing one King Stallion about every 20 days.
The aircraft’s production line employs 170 workers, “but that’s not counting the engineering and design departments” and the workers that will manufacture parts and conduct maintenance, he said.