Spec Ops Angels Blog

Boeing to Build New SCAR Helicopter

November 25, 2006 on 12:56 pm | In Articles |

By Harold Kennedy

The Air Force has awarded Boeing Helicopter, of Ridley Park, Pa., a contract worth a possible $15 billion to build 141 next-generation combat search-and-rescue helicopters.

The new helicopters would be HH-47s — updated versions of the CH-47 Chinooks that the Air Force has been flying for 50 years. They would replace a current, aging combat search-and-rescue fleet of 101 HH-G Pave Hawks.

Both the Pave Hawk and the HC-130 are obsolete and should be retired, said Air Force Reserve Col. Steve Kirkpatrick, commander of the 920 Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.

“The HH-60 is a great aircraft, but it is really limited,” he told a recent conference in Arlington, Va. “We need a helicopter with more cabin space and better performance in mountainous terrain.”

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