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Sikorsky CH-53X

Type
Heavy-lift military transport helicopter (militärischer Schwerlasthubschrauber)

Country (Land)
USA

Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Sikorsky Aircraft
6900 Main Street
Stratford, Connecticut 06615-9129
USA

Phone: 001-203/386-4000
Fax: 001-203/386-7300
http://www.sikorsky.com

General (Allgemeine Angaben)
Power plant (Antrieb): 3 x turboshafts. General Electric (T64-GE-416/419), Honeywell (T55-715B), Pratt & Whitney (PW 150 derivative) and Rolls-Royce (AE1107C) are expected to compete, with the Marine Corps reportedly favouring the AE1107C for commonality reasons with the V-22 Osprey.
Power (Leistung): 6000 shp class

Dimensions (Abmessungen)
No details available

Weights (Massen)
No details available

Performance (Flugleistungen)
Range (Reichweite):
   - 205 km with 13600 kg load as an objective demanded by the Navy
   - 370 km with 12700 kg external load
   - 555 km with 11340 kg payload

Costs (Preise)
No details known, as the CH-53X will now be a new development programme.
In 2000 it was expected that remanufacture of a CH-53E to the X-standard would cost 21 million US-Dollars. In 2001, the price was put at 22 – 26 million Dollars.
SDD cost would be around 1 billion Dollars.

Customers (Kunden)
None yet. A procurement of a total of 154 CH-53X was outlined in early 2004. Earlier, the Marine Corps had tentatively planned to upgrade around 110 CH-53Es to the new configuration, but during Congressional hearings in March 2004 it was stated that the CH-53X would be a new development programme.

Remarks (Bemerkungen)
The US Marine Corps plans to replace its fleet of heavy lift helicopters (CH-53E). At first a remanufacturing effort was considered, but in March 2004 it was stated that it should be a new development programme. A significant increase in performance over the CH-53E is targeted, as well as much lower operational costs through better reliability and maintainability. Improvements should include:

common, modern cockpit
composite rotor blade with swept dihedral/anhedral tips to deliver more lift
elastomeric bearings for a titanium rotorhead, featuring fewer parts
common engine
service life extension with gross weight expansion (+ 2275 kg)
improved external cargo handling system to make it simpler and more reliable
survivability enhancements

History (Geschichte)
The US Marine Corps agreed to go for a CH-53E upgrade in the autumn of 2000, thus rejecting development of a Joint Transport Rotorcraft (JTR).
During Congressional hearings in March 2004, it was stated that the CH-53X will now be a new development programme. This followed a study of alternatives completed in November 2003 that found a new-build helicopter fleet economically an operationally more attractive than a re-manufacturing program.
In June 2004, the Naval Air Systems Command CH-53 program manager stated that the CH-53X should be fielded in Fiscal Year 2015 and be fully deployed by 2021. A go-ahead could come in September 2004, as the necessary Pentagon approvals are received. This was delayed a bit pending a review of the programme by the Pentagon Joint Staff.
For fiscal year 2005, funding of 103 million US-Dollars was foreseen for the “Heavy Lift Rotorcraft”.

Civil | Military | Helicopters | History | Spaceflight

Last updated 8 October 2004

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