Boeing [BA] said on Nov. 20 that it has completed the research and development phase for the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter and delivered the sixth and final test aircraft to the U.S. Air Force last month.
Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter approved Grey Wolf low-rate initial production (LRIP) in March (
Defense Daily, March 7).
Boeing said that it plans to deliver the first LRIP MH-139, based on the Leonardo AW139, next year and that that first aircraft is in final assembly.
“Delivering all of the RDT&E aircraft to the Air Force enables them to continue critical operational testing and allows Boeing to focus on building the first production aircraft.” Azeem Khan, Boeing’s MH-139 program director, said in a company statement on Nov. 20.
The Air Force awarded Boeing a contract worth $2.38 billion in September 2018 to include up to 84 MH-139As.
The MH-139As are to replace the Air Force’s 63 Bell [TXT] UH-1N helicopters to provide security and support of the U.S. military’s intercontinental ballistic missile fields, civil search-and-rescue capabilities, airlift support and doomsday VIP transportation.
In March, Boeing and Leonardo announced that their team had won a $285 million contract for the first 13 MH-139As and “sustainment and support.”
Hunter has said that delivery of MH-139 technical data to the Air Force had been a challenge, as Boeing had agreed to provide that data in 2018, but Leonardo, which holds the data, did not have a “contractual requirement” for the data provision.
The Air Force “worked very hard to make sure there was a concrete plan with the milestones and clear, ‘this will be achieved’ that aligned with our LRIP strategy,” Hunter said in March.