The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Sikorsky subsidiary a potential $500M contract to continue low-rate initial production of new combat rescue helicopters.
Sikorsky will manufacture 12 HH-60W helicopters in addition to the 10 units the service branch ordered last year under an LRIP lot 1 contract, Lockheed said Thursday.
The HH-60W, nicknamed Jolly Green II, completed its first flight in May last year and achieved Milestone C certification from the Department of Defense in September. Sikorsky officially unveiled the new CRH a month later.
According to Lockheed, additional flight tests are underway for seven CRH aircraft as part of efforts to reach the program’s “Required Assets Available” milestone.
HH-60W is based on the UH-60M Black Hawk platform and its fuel system is almost double the latter model’s fuel storage capacity. The new helicopter includes cybersecurity, weather sensor and weapons systems.
The service branch looks to procure 113 CRH helicopters to replace its HH-60G Pave Hawk.
