The Navy was all set to buy its long-overdue and problem-plagued CH-53K King Stallion helicopter next year, but Senate appropriators have just thrown some cold water on that idea.
The idea was that the Navy would begin buying CH-53Ks with a purchase of two helicopters in fiscal 2017 before ramping up to four the next year and seven in fiscal 2019 in advance of actually fielding this future Marine Corps workhorse in 2019. But is the Navy rushing a platform that still has its share of problems and concerns? The Senate Appropriations Committee thinks so in its mark of the fiscal 2016 defense spending bill, cutting all $41.3 million that had been requested for advance procurement of those first two helos.
“The Committee notes that developmental test has been delayed and now extends through June 2016,” the panel wrote in its report. “The Committee also understands that a milestone C decision is scheduled for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016. Therefore, the Committee believes that there is risk in the current schedule and it is premature to begin procurement of the CH–53K helicopter in fiscal year 2016 and recommends no funding for advance procurement.”
There may be hope yet for the Navy to avoid another delay in production, as House appropriators made no such adjustment, nor did either authorization committees.
However, concerns about the CH-53K program simply won’t go away after repeated delays throughout its history — the program even had to be re-baselined back in 2009. The program has shown some stability lately, but the recent decision by parent company United Technologies Corporation to divest itself of manufacturer Sikorsky at such a critical time for the platform’s development has raised new concerns about this very important asset, despite assurances from the company that everything is fine.
Without question, Congress is likely to keep a close eye on the development of the helicopter as production gets ever closer — and unless House appropriators fight the Senate on this or the Navy can find a way to make do without that advance procurement money, that may not be until fiscal 2018.