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Army

Too Few Pilots, Maintainers Threaten Incoming Afghan UH-60 Fleet

Friday, February 1st, 2019

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Too Few Pilots, Maintainers Threaten Incoming Afghan UH-60 Fleet

An Afghan Air Force UH-60 Blackhawk piloted by an Afghan and American pilot fly in formation Dec. 8, 2018, while participating in the NATO led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Clayton Cupit)

There are too few Afghan Air Force pilots to operate a new fleet of UH-60 Black Hawks as they are delivered and no plan in place for teaching maintainers to keep the aircraft flying once they are fielded, according to the watchdog overseeing U.S. government spending in Afghanistan. A “key component” of modernizing the AAF is fielding a fleet of 159 Sikorsky [LMT] UH-60s — 119 for the air force and 40 for its Special Mission Wing — at a…

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Congress

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