The U.S. Air Force introduced the first of 21 fully built HH-60G Pave Hawk Operational Loss Replacement (OLR) helicopters at a Huntsville, Alabama ceremony on June 28.
The HH-60G helicopter is used primarily to conduct combat search and rescue operations (CSAR) while the OLR program works to restore the Air Force’s HH-60G fleet to its authorized size. This program replaces aircraft lost in the past 15 years since deployed combat operations began in 2001.
The Air Force has started restoring the HH-60G fleet by acquiring 21 UH-60L helicopters. The service added a comprehensive kit of modifications and additional equipment to convert the UH-60Ls into HH-60Gs.
The Air Force is augmenting its Pave Hawk helicopter fleet to ensure the service is ready to conduct personnel recovery and CSAR mission missions until the modernized combat rescue helicopter enters service after 2020, the service said.
“The criteria we set for the helicopters we received was comprehensive and thorough. The result is the HH-60G OLR, a completely re-missionized helicopter that is fully capable of successfully executing the combat rescue mission,” Brig. Gen. Eric Fick, director of Global Reach Programs with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, said in a statement.
The Air Force worked with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to contract Science and Engineering Services LLC (SES) to modify the UH-60Ls. This effort began October 2012 and required the program office and SES to integrate all modifications implemented on the HH-60G fleet throughout its 30+ year history intone technical data package.
The Air Force highlighted as a result of this integration, the first new converted Pave Hawks will have several system upgrades that are only starting to reach the rest of the HH-60G fleet.
The Air Force highlighted that it plans to use the OLR program as part of an overall fleet management strategy and as such Air National Guard rescue units in California, Alaska, and New York will receive OLR aircraft in fiscal year 2018 following initial testing. Concurrently, former National Guard aircraft will re-flow to activate units with the highest number of flight hours. The new OLR helicopters will reduce the National Guard’s average fleet age by half, the Air Force said.
Air National Guard units receiving OLR helicopters include the 210th Rescue Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Ala.; the 101st RQS at Gabreski Field, N.Y.; and the 129th RQS at Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif.