July 7, 2021 —
An MH-60T crew assists with transportation and deployment of a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute unmanned maritime vehicle as part of a Coast Guard research and development project off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Hillard.
The Coast Guard ordered five additional new MH-60T hulls from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of Stratford, Connecticut, on July 6, 2021, to support the service’s ongoing service life extension of its original fleet of 45 MH-60Ts.
The Coast Guard has ordered a total of 30 new hulls on the existing indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, with this newest delivery order valued at just over $34 million. The initial order of 25 hulls, worth nearly $207 million, was placed in January 2021. Delivery of the first new hull is anticipated in early 2023, with subsequent hulls scheduled for delivery at a pace of approximately one per month starting in late 2023.
The Coast Guard’s MH-60 helicopters, which have been in service since 1990, are reaching the end of their service life. This order provides new MH-60T hulls with 20,000 hours of service life to support the Coast Guard’s 11 statutory missions, including drug interdiction, environmental protection and search and rescue.
Hull replacement is just one component of the MH-60T sustainment effort. In addition, some critical dynamic components, such as main rotor blades and electrical wire harnesses, will also be replaced. Aircraft production – the assembly and installation of dynamic components on the hulls – will be completed at the Coast Guard Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
For more information: MH-60T Sustainment program page