Air Force Eyes Replacement For Aging Pave Hawk Helos.

• Author: Stott, Bethany
• Position: Helicopter

The Air Force expects, by 2004, to select a new medium-lift helicopter to replace its current workhorse, the Pave Hawk. Even though the contract award is three years away, companies already are jockeying for position, for what could be a $6 billion, 132-aircraft acquisition.

The HH-60G Pave Hawk is the Air Force's current combat search and rescue helicopter. It has helped rescue downed pilots behind enemy lines and capsized fishermen from freezing oceans. It has supported NASA missions and flood-relief operations in Mozambique. It can do all this under virtually any weather conditions. The Pave Hawk's modern technologies include night-vision capabilities, Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) and other navigational systems, as well as anti-icing rotor blades and engines.

This twin-engine, medium-lift helicopter has been a reliable platform for nearly 20 years. The Air Force, however, wants to begin searching for a Pave Hawk replacement and begin fielding it by 2010. The reason, said Air Force officials, is the aging of the fleet. The Pave Hawk, which is a modified version of the Sikorsky-built Black Hawk--used by the U.S. Army--has proven to be a safe and effective combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) platform. It served during operations in Western Iraq, Saudi Arabia, coastal Kuwait and the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm, as well as in operation Allied Force in the Balkans, where Pave Hawk aircrews were responsible for the safe extraction of two downed pilots in hostile territory.

Currently, 64 are on active duty, 18 in the Air National Guard and 24 in the Air Force Reserves. These seemingly small numbers can be deceiving. When three Pave Hawks were sent to Mozambique for flood-relief operations, they flew 240 missions in 17 days and delivered more than 160 tons of humanitarian relief supplies.

Air Force Gen. John Jumper, head of the Air Combat Command, told National Defense that the entire Pave Hawk fleet will have exceeded its 7,000 flight-hour life expectancy by 2019.

When it first deployed in 1982, the Pave Hawk's operational life was estimated at 7,000 flight hours. The oldest Pave Hawks in the fleet will reach that milestone in 2001.

But that is not the only reason why a replacement is needed. In January 1999, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) noted that the HH-60G was deficient in areas such as survivability, range/combat radius, payload capacity/cabin volume, battle-space/situational awareness, mission reaction (deployment) time, adverse weather operations and service life limit.

As a...