AF seeks to replace UH-1N helicopter

[unhappycamper]

The Air Force expects to award a contract for the UH-N1 helicopters as soon as fiscal year 2012 and wants to have at least six aircraft by 2015, the target date for initial operational capability.


AF seeks to replace UH-1N helicopter
By John Reed - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 29, 2009 18:34:04 EST

The Air Force has restarted its effort to replace 62 Vietnam War-vintage UH-1N Huey helicopters with a commercially available helicopter by 2015, according to a Dec. 17 service document.

The sources-sought notice seeks contractors who can provide the Air Force with up to 93 helicopters — dubbed the Common Vertical Lift Support Platform (CVLSP) — that can carry at least nine passengers and that have proved themselves in commercial or government service. The service wants to put the new helicopters into service quickly: “We will consider some performance trade offs to meet schedule at an affordable cost.”

The Air Force expects to award a contract for the helicopters as soon as fiscal year 2012 and wants to have at least six aircraft by 2015, the target date for initial operational capability. An additional 10 choppers are due no later than Sept. 30, 2017.

One way the service hopes to do this is by purchasing an aircraft that is currently in production, according to the document.

The service’s UH-1N fleet dates to the 1970s and is used primarily at nuclear missile bases in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming, where they patrol missile fields, fly search-and-rescue missions, and more. The Air Force has another squadron of Hueys at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., that provide VIP airlift around Washington. The Sixth Special Operations Squadron also flies a handful of the aircraft for special operations missions at Hurlburt Field, Fla.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/12/defense_CVLSP_122909/

[jmowreader]

1. And the UH-60L Black Hawk the government already buys won't work?

[westerebus]

2. Must be time to reinvent the helicopter.

When will we ever learn?