The Air Force's Brand New HH-60W Rescue Helicopters Already Need Major Upgrades
Some of the capabilities the Air Force wants to add to the HH-60Ws are already found on the existing HH-60Gs they're supposed to replace.
ByJoseph TrevithickDecember 7, 2020
The War Zone
The Air Force only received its first two HH-60W Jolly Green IIs in November, but the service is already looking to upgrade its newest combat rescue helicopters. Many of the proposed additions are already found on helicopters and other platforms across the U.S. military and the service says that the Jolly Green IIs need at least one of the desired improvements to be able to effectively carry out their core combat search and rescue mission set at all. A major reason that these helicopters lack this and many of the other desired capabilities is that they are being built to requirements the Air Force laid out nearly a decade ago.
The Combat Rescue Helicopter Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Helicopter Program Office first announced on Oct. 1, 2020, that it was looking for companies to make various improvements to the HH-60W, as well as provide other upgrades, including to training simulators, and services in support of those helicopters. The Air Force's 347th Rescue Group, part of the 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, took delivery of the first two HH-60Ws, out of a planned order of 113, on Nov. 5. The Jolly Green IIs are set to replace the service's existing HH-60G Pave Hawks, which first entered service in the 1980s and are becoming increasingly more difficult to operate and maintain.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38005/the-air-forces-brand-new-hh-60w-rescue-helicopters-already-need-major-upgrades
