The Air Force designated its new Combat Rescue Helicopter the HH-60W, dubbing it the “60-Whiskey,” announced service officials on Monday. Its official name will come at a later date, they said in the Nov. 24 release. Sikorsky in June won the $1.28 billion contract to develop the HH-60W, the successor to the service’s current HH-60G Pave Hawks. The Air Force plans to purchase as many as 112 HH-60Ws, totaling a potential $7.9 billion. The helicopter is based on the Army’s UH-60M, and boasts extended range and efficiency, optimized hot- and high-altitude performance, and an enlarged cabin space. The Air Force plans to launch a system requirements review in Fiscal 2015, and Sikorsky is slated to deliver in Fiscal 2019 the first helicopters included in the program’s initial development phase, states the release. “The CRH program office is working closely with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to ensure the newly designated HH-60W is delivered to the warfighter on schedule and within cost,” said David Schairbaum, CRH system program manager.
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.