The Navy has included the SDTA helicopters as an
additional line item under the existing $3.5
billion System Development and Demonstration
(SDD) contract initially awarded to Sikorsky in
April 2006. The contract schedule requires that
Sikorsky deliver the first SDTA aircraft in 39
months, and the fourth by the end of March 2017,
when the Marines will begin operational
evaluation. The contract’s cost-plus-incentive
fee arrangement incentivizes Sikorsky to deliver
early. Sikorsky will perform final assembly of
the SDTA aircraft at the company’s Florida
Assembly and Flight Operations facility in West
Palm Beach.
To date, Sikorsky has delivered two of the seven
SDD CH-53K aircraft – the Ground Test Vehicle
and the Static Test Article – into the test
program, and is finalizing assembly of the four
flight test aircraft and the Fatigue Test
Article. First flight of a CH-53K prototype
aircraft is expected in late 2014.
Once the SDTA aircraft enter operational
evaluation in 2017, the Marine Corps will verify
the CH-53K helicopter’s capability to carry
27,000 pounds over 110 nautical miles under
“high hot” ambient conditions, nearly tripling
the external load carrying capacity of the
current CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter.
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