The U.S. Navy awarded Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, a $2.7 billion contract to build and deliver 35 additional CH-53K King Stallion helicopters – the largest procurement to date for this multi-mission aircraft. The agreement includes 12 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 7 aircraft, 15 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 8 aircraft, and eight aircraft for Israel. Sikorsky will begin delivering these aircraft in 2026. This contract significantly advances Sikorsky and the U.S. Navy on the path toward a multi-year agreement and the 200 aircraft Marine Corps Program of Record. This contract award includes eight additional CH-53K helicopters for the Israeli Air Force and follows the initial production announcement in 2022 for the first four aircraft under a U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement. The multi-mission CH-53K will support Israeli special operations programs, as well as provide the Israeli Defense Forces with a platform that has the speed, safety, survivability and gross weight capability to support all of its missions, including troop and cargo transport, and search and rescue.
“Our skilled employees are using digital tools to build more efficiently as these helicopters roll off the production line and into the hands of the Marines. The performance of the CH-53K in the fleet validates its capabilities to provide a strategic advantage and shows that even more is possible with this aircraft,” said Dana Fiatarone, vice president, Sikorsky Marine Corps Systems.
“This contract award for 35 CH-53K helicopters stabilizes Sikorsky’s nationwide supply base, creates additional production efficiencies, and provides the U.S. Marine Corps with transformative 21st century technologies. Our long-standing partnership led to this best value contract award providing the capability and readiness the Marines need,” said Paul Lemmo, president of Sikorsky.
The Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion (Sikorsky S-95) is a heavy-lift cargo helicopter designed and produced by Sikorsky Aircraft. The CH?53K is a multi-mission helicopter with heavy-lift capabilities that exceed all other U.S. Department of Defense rotary wing aircraft and is the only heavy-lift helicopter that will remain in production through 2032 and beyond. The CH-53K can carry a 27,000-pound external load over 110 nautical miles in high/hot conditions, which is more than triple the external load carrying capacity of the legacy CH-53E aircraft in these same conditions. The CH-53K King Stallion is designed to conduct expeditionary assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment, and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland from a sea-based center of operations, critical in the Indo-Pacific region. The CH-53K is a digitally designed, market available aircraft, enabling a range of operations such as humanitarian relief, firefighting and search and rescue.
The King Stallion is an evolution of the long running CH-53 series of helicopters which have been in continuous service since 1966. The CH-53K is powered by the General Electric GE38-1B engine, which was selected over the Pratt and Whitney Canada PW150 and a variant of the Rolls-Royce AE 1107C-Liberty used on the V-22 Osprey. Each of the three T408 engines is rated at 7,500 shp (5,600 kW), and gives the CH-53K the ability to fly 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) faster than its CH-53E predecessor. It is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the U.S. military. The United States Marine Corps plans to receive 200 helicopters at a total cost of $25 billion. In May 2018, the first CH-53K was delivered to the Marine Corps. On 22 April 2022, it was declared to have passed initial operational capability. Israel has also reportedly ordered the type; other potential export customers include Japan and Germany.
