Corps works to lengthen lives of old CH-53s

[unhappycamper]

Combat cargo Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit steady an external load for a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter. Officials are working to keep the Corps’ CH-53s flying until 2018, three years later than expected.


Corps works to lengthen lives of old CH-53s
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 17, 2010 6:20:48 EDT

Marine officials are working overtime to keep the Corps’ aging CH-53s flying until the next-generation heavy-lift helicopter comes online in 2018, three years later than expected.

Navy Capt. Rick Muldoon, program manager for all CH-53s, said his team is on track to conduct the CH-53K’s critical design review this summer. That will be the last major step before the new aircraft is approved for production. Officials hope to have the first new bird conducting flight tests in 2013.

In the meantime, the Corps will ask even more of its CH-53Ds and Es. Even after 30-plus years in service, the 10 Deltas now in Afghanistan fly a combined average of 485 hours each month, while the 16 Echoes fly a combined monthly average of 610 hours, said Marine spokesman Capt. Craig Thomas.

“I think we’re going to be fine,” Muldoon said, but it would be “foolhardy not to be concerned about an aging aircraft. We have to be diligent. ... If we don’t do anything, we could be in trouble in the next five years or less.”

A diagnostic system on board the older aircraft helps Marine officials track the birds’ reliability. Typically, mechanical failure doesn’t happen overnight, Muldoon said. Officials hope the data collected from the diagnostics will help them predict when failure is most likely to occur.