I think its ridiculous that the USAF is now focused on replacing their ViP and Missile Silo tender helicopters instead of replacing their combat search and rescue helicopters which are ill-suited for the highly demanding task they are assigned. The CSAR-X competition was a huge fiasco, only 3rd to the KC-X and the Marine 1 replacement disasters. The HH-60G Pavehawks that currently are used by the USAF Para-rescuemen and special operations community are operating at their very limits in missions over in Afghanistan. They usually fly with a massive fuel tank that takes up over half the cabin space, which is a huge issue. Further, I think the USAF should concentrate on replacing direct action hardware over domestic VIP and missile silo helicopters. Especially when these helicopters are used for one of the USAF’s most high risk and demanding missions. SO what is MY solution? Here goes:
Buy the Combat Search And Rescue folks replacements for their overtasked HH-60G Pavehawks, preferably the CV-22 Osprey as their’s is a mission where every second counts and more range, payload and cabin space would be a massive plus. Alternatively the S-92 Superhawk would offer a huge capability boost at an affordable price and would rival the capability of the now retired MH-53J Pavelow. Then de-missionize and retrofit the HH-60G Pavehawks to be used by the missile silo tenders and for the VIP mission. There is NO NEED to have cutting edge technology do these missions. They will probably buy the newest Blackhawks anyway so getting by with a used platform should be totally acceptable for such a benign set of missions. Further, the USAF has about 100 Pavehawks in inventory, so the USAF can cherry pick the best 70 of the group to pass on to the VIP and missile silo roles. The ViP and missile silo logistics guys are currently flying Hueys that are almost half a century old, so they can get by with ex-HH-60Gs with a lot of miles left on them… The USAF NEEDS to learn how to do more with less, we throw away a LOT of perfectly good, or upgradeable hardware, and this is a great place to start…
