CH-53K's First Flight 'Within a Year'

摘要

The next-generation heavy-lift helicopter for the US Marine Corps (USMC) will make its first flight within the next year, according to the navy's programme manager. Sikorsky was planning the first flight in late 2014 but work with the Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) - a full-scale CH-53K - "has been slower than expected", said Colonel Hank Vanderborght, CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter Integrated Product Team Co-lead. "The first flight is not really one of our big milestones, even though it is an important thing to do," Vanderborght said. "We need to fly when we're ready to fly, when the whole system has been worked out through the ground test vehicle. It's really event driven in my eyes." The Sikorsky-built CH-53K, slated to be the long-needed upgrade of the service's rotary-wing heavy-lift capability, is scheduled to reach initial operational capability in 2019.