Huey replacement? Nothing will ever replace the Huey.
In an upset, a Boeing-Leonardo team has won a $2.38 billion contract to manufacture a new batch of helicopters to replace the Air Force’s UH-1N Huey used to guard the service’s nuclear missile silos.
Boeing and Leonardo’s MH-139, a militarized version of the commercial AW139 manufactured by Leonardo subsidiary AgustaWestland in Philadelphia, beat out Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Sierra Nevada Corp., which both offered versions of the UH-60 Black Hawk — which some analysts saw as the service’s aircraft of choice going into the competition.
As such, the Sept. 24 contract announcement is a major victory for the Boeing-Leonardo team, which received an initial $375 million for the first four helicopters and the integration of military-specific items needed to bring the AW139 to the Air Force’s requirements.
The Air Force touted the program of an example of cost savings, noting that the service was able to bring down the price of the program from its original $4.1 billion cost estimate.
“Strong competition drove down costs for the program, resulting in $1.7 billion in savings to the taxpayer,” Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said in a statement.
I realize things need to be updated … I just get this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach when they do it sometimes. I remember when my driver managed to “come up with” the armor for our M151. We felt so much better sporting about with that canvas and plastic enclosure protecting us. Some things needed to be upgraded, I just have warm memories of days when everything was not bulletproof.
They may upgrade to some newfangled gyrobird of some sort, but they can never replace Huey.
The Huey and the Cobra have more combat flight time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare.
Bell Helicopter built 10,005 Hueys from 1957 to 1975. Of the 10,005 production Hueys, 9,216 went to the U.S. Army, 127 to the U.S. Marine Corps, 79 to the U.S. Air Force and 42 to the U.S. Navy. The rest went to other countries.
Today, There are only 113 B models registered. 9 E models, 12 F models, 10 Training F Models, 1 HH-1K, 8 TH-1L’s, 14 UH-1L, 3 M models, 1 P model, 5 civilian 205’s and 547 UH-1H’s. There are zero registered for all other makes and models of the military variant hueys, leaving only 723 Military varient Huey models in all registered today.
The Huey remains a legend as the most successful rotorcraft in Aviation History. Link HERE.
Category: Military issues
“I remember when my driver managed to “come up with” the armor for our M151.”
In the Viet of the Nam that equaled lots of sandbags on the floor.
Replace/ upgrade the Huey transmissions and put them back to work.
Stamp out another ten thousand airframes.
Sell them as kits.
Call it an AirJeep™
Dang it, 26Lima, you got me salivating.
AirJeep™ is a fantastic concept.
Building more airframes would be a neat trick given the production line was shut down in 1975…
When I was a member of Hose 1, ERFD, we had a member that was a FMF Navy Corpsman and said that he used to sit on a seat made up of stacked flack jackets when riding on the Huey’s.
Spent 26 months sitting on my chect protector plate while flying as a door gunner on a UH-1B & C model gunship. August 29, 1967 we got shot to pieces and I ended up in the 12th EVAC at Cu Chi, RSVN. My crew chief/platoon sergeant stopped by to check on me and said , “you also took a round in your chest plate. Told him that was his as I was seating on mine. I think he said something about Holey Shit! 116th Assault Helicopter Company
That bird looks like a dildo on wheels.
That weird nose and the window on the bottom remind me of Mickey Rat:
If it ain’t broke….
Its more a range/flight duration over the nuke silo’s.
To this day, I get the hairs on the back of my neck standing up whenever I hear those rotors. Such a distinctive sound.
The UH-1N Was used by Navy & Marine units because it had twin engines. Very nice to have a spare if you’re out over the pond and trying to get back to mother…….
Medivac, troop transport, resupply , gunship….
this bird did it all.
Had a couple of personal experiences of rappelling and jumping (parachuting) out of them. Had to push your butt real hard off the floor in order for your back pack (parachute) to clear the skid.
Affectionately know as a “slick” by grunts, the “whaap, whaap, whaap” made by the rotors were always a welcome sound….still can hear that sound before well before others can.
And the pilots……huge balls of steel!
In the 101st the sound was wop wop wop … because the CG was MG Olinto Barsanti. Lots of banter about that in the TOCs and phantom Command Net transmissions. He was a good man and took it in good humor.
WARNING! Not for SJW’s!
Just another day at the “office” for me./smile
Someday I need to see that movie.
Fire/Rescue, Game Warden, State Police,
Conservation, Hollwood (Vic Morrow RIP)…….and Billys Helicopter Rides.
I do so enjoy how they make it sound like spending $3b is somehow saving money because they initially expected it to run $4b. When I’m sure the project will run late and over budget (they always do) and come in well over the initial $4b budgeted.
Like when my wife buys hundreds of dollars of crap we don’t need because it was “on sale” and/or “I had a coupon.”
So, don’t you get another gun in exchange?
If not, you’re doing it wrong.
The Gooney Bird of rotorcraft.
Nothing replaces my beloved Huey.
How can the Huey be called the “most successful rotorcraft in aviation history” when it was all but retired from active service in the early 90’s? Meanwhile, 25+ years later, the workhorse CH-47 is still flying resupply missions over 20,000′ passes in Afghanistan.
The CH-47 went in service in 1961, just 2 years after the Huey and, as I said, is still a widely used bird, particularly at high altitudes.
By contrast, when I was at Fort Bragg from 1992 – 1998, the only Hueys I ever saw were on loan from the North Carolina Forestry Service (they would loan them to us for “fun jumps” on Ste. Mere Eglise DZ.)
Not saying the Huey wasn’t a significant aircraft, but to say it is the “most successful rotorcraft in aviation history” is a bit of a stretch, especially with CH-47’s still flying.
Some Marines need to step up here and extol the CH-46, which also had a long and venerable service record. Those HMM 364 Purple Fox (‘give a sh*t’) guys got us out of a few jams. Bless them.
Question for Ch-47 riders:
The Ch-46 had a hole in the floor from which we would rappel. Did the Ch-47 have this hole? We also practiced rappelling from the ramp. We never did rappel in combat when getting inserted. I always figured the pilots said, “Oh hell no. We’re not hovering for any extra time. There’s a nice open area a couple clicks away”.
CH-47 Had the hatch in the floor, we used to monitor our sling loaded gama goats.
I don’t know if the Corps still flies any Hueys, but I know they were still flying them in Iraq in 2005-06. There was at least one squadron of them at Al-Asad. I used to see them on the flightline every day.
Because anything with two heads is a FREAK.
Maybe the Huey simply isn’t glamorous enough for the Air Force these days.
Does this mean there will be some of those old Hueys available for lawn decorations now?
I occasionally drive by this one.
Galen Cole is a WW2 Army vet.
In short no. just like their camo patterns weren’t glamorous enough.
No, lets not use a version of a platfrom already in service and benifit from both maintenance training costs, and cost saveings by leveraging off of common parts. Not to mention the new airframe will have to go through the entire Acquitision process with a foreign supplier in the mix, which brings major ass pain.
Someone just had a big pay day.
Totally agree. Should have gone UH60. Another needless waste of money.
Maybe they just really wanted retractable LG. Or maybe some campaign contributions were made.
Doesn’t the Air Force already have UH-60s?
A brother airframe, but yes. The HH-60 Pave Hawk. Like the Navy has the SH-60 Seahawk and the Coasties their version of the HH-60, the Jayhawk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_HH-60_Pave_Hawk
Now, Now, Now, Boys…Boys…Boys… Why are you trying to apply common sense and logic to something as important as to making sure contractors sell new improved stuff to Uncle Sugar? Can’t be having all that now. Contractors gotta pay off, err make a living, same as procurement officers. Doesn’t matter that we already have airframes and such that are proven to work, have folks familiar on how they work, ect, et al. Can’t make as much $ by improving or modifying what we have, we’s got to have us a brand new model. Oh, and that part about foreign parts, no big deal, it’s a global, on demand market now, parts will always be readily available. Besides, the Air Force wants their own chopper, for it’s own little special mission. Gotta get the budget $#s up before we loose more to the new Space Force.
As I gaze into my crystal ball I see:
An Air Force F-35 and a MH-139 strapped together in tandem both being sling-loaded to the boneyard by a Army Huey.
Mark your calendars, I called it.
Pretty sure the Army got rid of their Hueys under the Bush administration.
The GHW Bush (1989 – 93) administration, that is. 😉
Even the NG doesn’t use Hueys anymore. Haven’t for years.
I know the 1022nd Air Medical Company in the WYARNG was using Blackhawks in Kuwait and Iraq in 2004 because I got to fly in one.
From 2003-2005 the 832 Medical Company Air Amb RI/WI NG unit backfilled for the 54th Med CO at Fort Lewis and pulled MAST missions around the state, in the Cascade Mts. they did a great job for a bunch of flatlanders. At the time I was the MAST Coordinator, the go between for public safety and military and the civilian air ambulance. Have fond memories of working with them. Most were from police/fire back home and took the mission like true professionals.
Left out the most important part, the 832nd was flying UH-1V at the time.
Claw, it’ll be a Huey, but one run by a contractor. For a fraction of the price of whatever new-fangled, touchscreen operated helo we’re using.
Nah, they’ll haul them to DM inside a C-130.
Huey doesn’t have the payload to do it. However, the CH-47 can lift both…
Why not save money and buy more Hueys? They work, they keep working, and are easier to fix whenever they do break than damn near any other helicopter on God’s green earth. They’re also a damn sight cheaper than this new crap, plus your pilots already know how to fly ‘em, crew chiefs already know how to run ‘em, and ground crew already know how to wrench on ‘em. Why reinvent the wheel for billions of dollars more?
In other news, my department recently made the official announcement that we are purchasing civilian Blackhawks to replace the Hueys in our fleet. Our near-unanimous denouncement of this sacrilege has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
They stopped building Hueys 44 years ago, that’s why. They don’t make ’75 Chargers either.
I’ll bet money the Blackhawk series has a much better accident rate than the Hueys.
For anybody interested in what outfit is flying the birds in the Huey picture, they are from Company A, (Little Bears) 25th Aviation Battalion, 25th Infantry Division based out of Chu Lai.
It’s US Gum’mint and it ain’t broke which means someone’s gotta fix it ’till it’s FUBAR, I always saw the UH-1 Huey as the DC3 of Helicopters!
For whatever reason(s), we didn’t call our gunships “Hueys” but rather “Bravo,” “Charlie,” or Mike” Models. Guess the honor of being a Huey went to the slicks/ “Delta” and “Hotel” models. Maybe it had something to do with the word “Bell” on the left T/R pedal and “Huey” on the right of the later models. After my time flying guns (RVN and SS-11 Mike Models with the 101st at Campbell), the Mike’s left the active army and I became a slick driver. Proud to be part of The Huey Generation. regards, Alemaster
Here are some shots I took of the UH-1Ys on my floats with the 31st MEU. They are more artsy than anything – i.e. they show the whole bird for most of them. Of note, the last few shots are of some November models being flown by the ROKs. Note the Yin-Yang roundel.
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipMIP2YeeD6Cl6C1-MIZkKTWi6cE15-6-F14I7oS
A Korean Helicopter on a US LHD? Surprising? Not as surprising as AH-64s landing on an LHD:
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipOWqrQIQ9oUkURtqJVq8C8eFIaGTadhwWillSBD
Some of them looked fine landing, but several looked very nervous to be landing on something that was moving. “LZs aren’t supposed to move, man!!”
Jimmy “Left Ball Loooooow” Walls must be curled up in a corner, crying like the little girl over this news.
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=65444
Just be thankful your Navy isn’t still flying vintage Sea Things 😒
Those POS’s are so old they require a stoker instead of an FE!
Would seem the USMC’s latest evolution of the UH-1 would be better for a variety of reasons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_UH-1Y_Venom
According to the article, the flyaway cost of the UH-1Y is $26m (2014), which is quite a bit less than more than $93m paid each for the first four as noted by Dave above.
Imagine how great it’ll be when the government can use this logic on our medical care!
The AW-139 is a good Helicopter, a worthy replacement for the Huey, its also a more adaptable airframe for modern infra-red and other electronic surveillance devices than the Huey airframe. The NJ state police have been flying them for years, they replaced some of their Sikorsky S-76’s and Bell long rangers with the AW-139, After all the USAF wants them for missile silo surveillance and quick reaction security forces they can come in on Blackhawks
This is the same service that has spent over 1 Trillion dollars (yes, with a T) on one aircraft (The F-35). Do you expect any less than for them to want another new toy?
Now tell everyone that’s an estimated cost through 2070 of R&D, purchase, and 52 years of operations & maintenance.
Next up: the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide!
A general question thrown out for those who flew or wrenched on choppers.
What is the difference between a twin tail/main rotor bird and a quad tail/main rotor?
Handling, torque, speed, etc.?