AS PART of a plan to transition to a single rotary wing fleet, the Coast Guard will assign MH-60T Jayhawks to Air Station New Orleans. Considered a medium range recovery helicopter, the Jayhawks will replace the station's MH-65D short range recovery Dolphins. The transition from the MH-65D to the MH-60T will begin this summer. In support of that change, a pair of Jayhawks from the US Coast Aviation Training Center Mobile in Alabama paid a visit to Air Station New Orleans on January 23, 2022, when they were used in towing exercises and were fit checked inside the hangar. Located aboard Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, the unit currently operates five MH-65Ds and is the Coast Guard's busiest all-helicopter search and rescue unit. The Coast Guard had previously transitioned Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico, from the MH-65D to the MH-60T in 2021. The Coast Guard originally received 42 HH-60J Jayhawks that underwent progressive upgrades resulting in the MH-60T model. Although three examples have been written off, the service's Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, has converted at least seven former US Navy SH-60F Seahawks to Jayhawk configuration.
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