Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] have announced that they submitted bids for the U.S. Air Force’s UH-1N Huey helicopter replacement program.

Boeing said late Sept. 13 that its MH-139 is based on Leonardo’s AW139, which is “in service with more than 250 government, military and commercial operators around the world.”

The Air Force wants to replace its UH-1N helicopter. Photo: Air Force.
The Air Force wants to replace its aging UH-1N Huey helicopters. Photo: Air Force.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, said Sept. 14 that its HH-60U, a variant of the UH-60M Black Hawk, is “a proven, tested and available aircraft to fully meet the Air Force’s requirements.”

Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT], a potential bidder, had no immediate comment. Proposals were due Sept. 14.

The Air Force plans to buy 84 helicopters to replace its Bell-built Huey fleet, which entered service in the 1970s. A contract award is expected in May, and deliveries could start as early as fiscal year 2020.

The new helicopter will protect intercontinental ballistic missile fields in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming and provide emergency transport to support continuity-of-government operations in Washington, D.C. Air Force Global Strike Command is sponsoring the program.

According to the Air Force’s FY 2018 budget request, the service’s fleet of more than 60 UH-1Ns has “significant capability gaps in the areas of speed, range, endurance, payload capacity and aircraft self-protection. The Air Force intends to replace these UH-1Ns with modern helicopters that will eliminate these capability gaps.”

In a report accompanying its FY 2018 defense authorization bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee said that new helicopters are urgently needed and that the Air Force should speed up the long-delayed procurement.