Ramona Adams
Lockheed Martin‘s Sikorsky subsidiary has opened a system testing facility for the Combat Rescue Helicopter program that aims to replace the U.S. Air Force‘s HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters.
The Systems Integration Lab is located within Sikorsky’s Stratford, Connecticut-based manufacturing facility and has four laboratories that will be used to test avionics, electrical power, electronic flight controls and integrated vehicle diagnostics, Lockheed said Wednesday.
Tim Healy, director of the CRH program at Sikorsky, said the 2,500-square-foot SIL is built to provide a simulated flight environment where the company can perform individual and integrated tests of key subsystems.
The Air Force’s program of record requires 112 helicopters to replace aging HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters that support combat search-and-rescue and personnel recovery missions of the U.S. military.
Sikorsky was awarded a $1.2 billion contract to produce four HH-60W helicopters, instructional courseware and six aircrew and maintenance training devices.
Earlier this year, the Air Force and Sikorsky completed a training systems preliminary design review that confirmed the CRH program can proceed with detailed design work for the HH-60W training system.
