CH-53X (HLR) Program Moves Into SDD, Preliminary Design

CH-53E w. 2 HMMWVs(click to view full) Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, CT received an $8.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for preliminary design work in support of HLR, as part of the initial system development and demonstration of the Marine Corps’ CH-53X Heavy Lift Replacement (HLR) program. The contract follows a Dec. 22, 2005 decision by the under secretary of defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics to authorize the $4.4 billion Heavy Lift Replacement program to begin development. A “Cost Plus Award Fee” contract for the System Development and Demonstration phase, estimated to be approximately $2.9 billion, is expected to be signed with Sikorsky in March 2006. DID’s previous in-depth coverage of the HLR program also includes a follow-up report about HLR’s potential merger with the US Army’s futuristic JHL program, despite the timelines facing the USMC’s current CH-53E Super Stallion fleet and JHL’s technological uncertainties and late delivery date. A DefenseLINK story today adds some details about that, while providing relevant information concerning both the CH-53X (now designated CH-53K) and the current CH-53E fleet. CH-53E, Cobra Gold ’02(click to view full) Technologies under consideration in the CH-53K, which is being developed as a new-build derivative of the CH-53E, will include […]