WASHINGTON — Boeing expects to start out delivering the Air Force’s first field-ready MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters later this yr.
In a Friday release, Boeing said it finished construction on the primary low-rate initial production Grey Wolf in late December. That helicopter also began its flight testing at Italian aerospace firm Leonardo’s facility in Philadelphia, the corporate said.
Boeing said the MH-130 is constant the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification testing process.
The Air Force plans to purchase as much as 80 MH-139s to interchange its fleet of 63 UH-1N Huey helicopters. Security forces airmen will use them to patrol the service’s nuclear missile fields, and the service also plans to make use of these helicopters to move senior military officials.
The Grey Wolf is a militarized version of Leonardo’s AW139 business helicopter.
“We’re committed to advancing this program and have achieved one other significant milestone with the primary production aircraft,” Azeem Khan, Boeing’s MH-139 program director, said within the statement. “This accomplishment positions us to finish outstanding testing and move closer to delivering this critical capability to the U.S. Air Force.”
The Air Force awarded Boeing a contract in March 2023 to construct the primary 13 LRIP MH-139s. The corporate delivered the sixth and final test helicopter to the Air Force in fall 2023, which marked the top of its research, development, test and evaluation phase and a pivot toward entirely production.
Difficulties in integrating military systems with the business helicopter design, and delays within the FAA certification process, have slowed down the MH-139 program.
The systems integration challenges led to a schedule breach in April 2021. Also that yr, the FAA certification delays caused the Air Force to thrust back its procurement plans by a couple of yr and a half. Those FAA certifications got here in 2022, which allowed the Air Force to simply accept its first 4 test helicopters and make the Milestone C decision to maneuver forward with producing the Grey Wolf.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.