The Corps took delivery of its first CH-53 King Stallion on May 16, 2018, at the New River Air Station in Jacksonville, North Carolina. (Sgt. Matthew Callahan/Marine Corps)
Bloomberg: Lockheed’s $31 Billion Marine Helicopters Are Running 19 Months Late
* Navy sees need to delay initial combat capability to late 2021
* List of unresolved flaws grows to 102 from 94 in December
Lockheed Martin Corp.’s $31 billion King Stallion helicopter program for the U.S. Marines may miss its first key milestone by more than 19 months because of a growing checklist of flaws discovered in development testing.
The Naval Air Systems Command acknowledged that the helicopter designed to carry heavy cargo won’t meet its December target date for initial combat capability. The roster of unresolved technical deficiencies has grown to 106 items from about 94 logged in December, according to Navy documents.
A proposed new date -- between July and September 2021 -- “has not been finalized and is pending the final decision” on a request before Congress to shift $158 million into the testing program to pay for fixes and more test flights, Greg Kuntz, a spokesman for the command, said in an email.
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WNU Editor: These helicopters are more expensive than the F-35A .... The Marines' CH-53K King Stallion Helicopter Is On Track To Be More Expensive Than An F-35A Joint Strike Fighter In Unit Cost (March 15, 2017), and the problems with the program are serious .... Problems Continue With The USMC's Huge New CH-53K King Stallion Helicopter (January 18, 2019)
