When a Navy helicopter made a hard landing earlier this month on a rescue mission and got stuck on a high-altitude slope in California, military officials had few options. The disabled chopper was too big for most other craft to lift and too remote to recover any other way — in the past the helicopter would have to have been broken apart.
King Stallion to the rescue!
Not a horse, but Sikorsky’s brand-new CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter, newly off the production lines in Stratford. The King Stallion flew to the location and took off with the downed chopper dangling like a toy on a cable.
The massive CH-53K, topped by six 600-pound blades plus a tail rotor, made its official debut in U.S. Marine Corps insignia on Friday in a hangar at Sikorsky attended by dozens of VIP guests. The new aircraft can lift 36,000 pounds, fly as high as 16,000 feet and transport up to 32 troops or 24 medevac patients at a time.
Friday’s ceremony marked the completion of the Marines’ first Connecticut-built CH-53K, part of an order of six of the craft set to be delivered in the next several years. Each King Stallion costs $90-$100 million apiece and Sikorsky, a division of Lockeed Martin, expects to build 200 of them.
“It’s going to save lives,” said Marine Col. Jack Perrin, program manager for the service’s heavy-lift helicopter program. Choppers like the CH-53K are used both in peace and wartime, ferrying troops and equipment on sea and on land in the most extreme conditions. Humanitarian missions often use the craft to transport food and supplies during disasters, he added.
“We know how important this aircraft is to your global mission,” Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo said, speaking to the Marines. “The CH-53K, it’s a priority program for Sikorsky and the entire Lockheed Martin Corporation. Our team remains focused on manufacturing and producing this aircraft with the utmost safety and cost efficiency in mind.”
Lt. Gen. Mark R. Wise speaks to guests at the event.
The new chopper was created in an all-digital environment using advanced manufacturing techniques, in partnership with workers and Sikorsky unions like the Teamsters, Lemmo added.
In addition to Marine officers, dozens of officials from Sikorsky’s hundreds of suppliers for the CH-53K program were present on Friday.
The importance of the new chopper to Connecticut’s manufacturing sector was highlighted by the presence of Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Economic Development Commissioner David Lehman, Chief Manufacturing Officer Colin Cooper and many local lawmakers.
Blumenthal, referring to Stratford as “the helicopter capital of the world,” spoke of championing the CH-53K program on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I will continue to advocate for this program because it makes sense for American national security,” he said.
“I also want to salute the supply chain, the manufacturers of components, parts and materials that go into this great machine,” Blumenthal said. “It is a wondrous feat of engineering and manufacture.”
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
