Marines Should Reduce King Stallion Helicopter Buys Until Tech Problems Fixed, GAO Says
9 Mar 2021
Military.com | By Matthew Cox
The Marine Corps should reduce the number of new heavy-lift helicopters it buys until initial operational testing is complete, a new government watchdog report finds. That recommendation is based on a track record of technical problems with the CH-53K King Stallion program that have led to schedule delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
The service launched the program in 2005 to replace the older CH-53E helicopter with a more powerful aircraft to transport heavy weapons, equipment and supplies from ship to shore.
A Government Accountability Office, or GAO, report released this month found that, while the Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky CH-53K program has made progress, there is a "moderate risk" that the new aircraft will not meet the required levels of reliability and payload-carrying capability by the end of operational testing.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/03/09/marines-should-reduce-king-stallion-helicopter-buys-until-tech-problems-fixed-gao-says.html
