In addition to not meeting the speed, payload, and range requirements for the Air Force’s missile field security mission, USAF’s Vietnam War-era UH-1 fleet suffers frequent groundings. “UH-1’s advanced age is shown in groundings due to cracks in rotor hubs, lift-beam area, and tail-boom assemblies,” Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, Air Force Global Strike Command boss, said Wednesday during a presentation on Capitol Hill. He added, “We continue to deal with the challenge of keeping a 40-year-old aircraft mission-ready, while working through the issues of parts availability and obsolescence.” Kowalski said he’s confident the UH-1 can bridge the gap until its targeted replacement arrives, but it remains substandard. “The UH-1, when it’s not grounded has about the highest mission capability rate of any platform in the Air Force, but at the end of the day, even if we had brand new UH-1s . . . it still doesn’t meet the mission requirement.”
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.