New plan released to replace Pave Hawk - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

New plan released to replace Pave Hawk

The Air Force is trying a second time to replace its approximately 100 HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters with a newly designed helicopter.

The new plan, released March 23 by the Aeronautical Systems Center, calls for awarding a contract in 2012 and reaching initial operational capability with eight aircraft by September 2015. No date has been set for replacing all HH-60Gs.

Along with the timeline, the HH-60 Personnel Recovery Recapitalization Program lays out the likely performance requirements for the new helicopter. The proposed specifications are similar to those of the Pave Hawk, built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.

The new helicopter should be able to fly about 250 miles out and back without refueling, as well as reach a sustained speed of at least 143 mph and hover at 6,000 feet fully loaded.

No requirement is set for patient capacity, although operational scenarios in the proposal cite the need to carry two wounded troops. The plan, however, does call for an aircrew of four — two pilots and two flight engineers/aerial gunners — and room for three pararescuemen and their gear.

Air Force officials posted the plan on Federal Business Opportunities, the government site where all contract solicitations and similar requests must be published.

The HH-60 recapitalization program is a successor to the canceled Combat Search and Rescue-X project, killed last year by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A rescue version of Boeing’s HH-47 Chinook won the CSAR-X competition in 2006, but the Air Force withdrew the contract award after the Government Accountability Office faulted the service’s evaluation of entries from Boeing, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin.

The Air Force also has a $313 million project to buy nine HH-60Ms in the next two years to replace HH-60Gs that are old or have been lost in crashes.