Air Force Takes Steps to Replace Aging Hueys.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

The safety of the United States' nuclear missile silos--which make up one third of the nuclear triad--are ensured by a fleet of aging UH-1N Huey helicopters. Following years of delays, the Air Force is poised to make a contract decision on which company will provide its replacements.

Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky, Sierra Nevada Corp. and a Boeing-Leonardo team are all vying for the Air Force contract to build 84 platforms. With bids in, the three companies are awaiting a final decision by the service. Both Sikorsky and Sierra Nevada are offering helicopters based off the Black Hawk, and Leonardo-Boeing is offering a system based off the AW139.

The award--which is due by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2018--is a long time coming, with the program facing a number of delays and obstacles over the years.

"We are getting a new helicopter if I have to die trying or kill somebody to do it," Gen. John E. Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said during remarks at the 2018 U.S. Stratcom Deterrence Symposium in La Vista, Nebraska, in August.

Air Force Global Strike Command and the 90th Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, have modernized the legacy rotorcraft, keeping them flying and relevant, he said.

"What that wing and what Global Strike Command has done to make that weapon system viable and lethal when it wasn't just a few years ago is remarkable," he said. "That Huey is now armed. That Huey can now refuel out in the missile fields. That Huey can do things that just a few years ago it couldn't because we knew that it was taking too long for us to get the helicopter."

But while the legacy aircraft are now much more capable and lethal, a replacement is still needed, he said.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' international security program, said the Huey mission is critical when it comes to protecting the land-based intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal.

"If there were... a terrorist incident, an attack by a foreign country on an ICBM, you have to get a response force out there very quickly," he said. "Some of these ICBM silos are five hours by road from command posts. It might be six or eight hours from a reaction force by road.... You have to have helicopters because they're so spread out."

However, numerous issues have led to delays in procuring a replacement, said Ray Jaworowski, a senior aerospace analyst at Forecast International, a Newtown, Connecticut-based market...