Combat Rescue Helicopter Update

Air Force acquisition officials met with members of more than 30 companies at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to discuss the service’s plans to replace its aging fleet of HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters. Topics covered included the service’s preliminary acquisition strategy, contract approach, and projected timeline for acquiring the new platform, now called the Combat Rescue Helicopter. This dialogue will help ensure that the elements of the Air Force’s forthcoming request for proposal are clear and well understood, said Lt. Col. Dave Jeter, CRH program manager, in a release. The draft solicitation to industry is expected to hit the streets by the end of February, according to service officials. “The CRH’s primary mission is to recover isolated personnel from hostile or denied territory, but it will also conduct humanitarian, civil search and rescue, disaster relief, and non-combatant evacuation missions,” Maj. Ian Kemp, chief of the CRH requirements branch. The meetings took place Jan. 9-11.