There's always this option to replace the Cyclone
You Can Buy The State Department’s Totally Upgraded S-61T Helicopters That It Barely Used
The U.S. State Department spent untold millions on refurbishing the second-hand helicopters and now they could be yours on the cheap.
If you’re in the market for a baker’s dozen of refurbished
Sikorsky S-61T helicopters, the U.S. State Department will happily sell you the ones it has sitting in a hangar in southern Florida. The State Department had originally planned to buy more than 100 of these choppers to move diplomats and other personnel
in high-risk areas, such as
Afghanistan. Delays and other issues left it with a fleet of less than 20, most of which went straight into storage.
The General Services Administration (GSA) is
already auctioning off the first five S-61Ts – with the U.S. civil registration numbers N107WK, N122WU, N375WS, N575AW, and N898WC – each of which has a starting bid price of $500,000. This does not meet an unspecified reserve price for a final sale, though. The State Department plans to sell its remaining fleet of these helicopters, 13 in total, via GSA within six months, according to the Department’s Press Relations Office.
“There is no longer a State Department mission requirement for them,” the State Department told
The War Zone in a statement via Email. “These specific aircraft will not be replaced.”
The S-61Ts were refurbished ex-U.S. Navy and NASA
SH-3 Sea Kings, which were themselves military variants of the S-61 series. The Sea King has been all but retired from U.S. military service for years now. The U.S. Marine Corps is still using heavily modified
VH-3D Sea Kings, more commonly known as Marine Ones, to shuttle around the President of the United States, their family, and their closest advisors, but is planning on replacing them with
new VH-92As over the next four years.
The U.S. State Department spent untold millions on refurbishing the second-hand helicopters and now they could be yours on the cheap.
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Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King Regeneration
In February 2010 the US Department of State announced its intention to purchase up to 110 Sikorsky S-61Ts, to support its operations in Afghanistan and other countries around the world. An agreement was signed with Sikorsky.
Carson Helicopters, a major civilian operator of the S-61, is a joint developer with Sikorsky of the S-61T Triton which is a fully modernized version of the elderly S-61 which was designed and entered service in the early 1960s. Despite its age the S-61 has an excellent reputation as a reliable workhorse with a strong and durable construction, and it is these qualities which make their re-manufacture a viable alternative. Each conversion takes six months to complete and provides a full Sagem “glass cockpit”, a modular wiring harness, engine and transmission improvements, and composite main rotor blades in order to add extra speed and another 1,200 pounds of lift capacity.
Over twenty SH-3 Sea Kings, the military version of the S-61, comprising of SH-3D, SH-3G and SH-3H have been sourced from AMARG and provided with civilian registrations prior to being overhauled. Several more have been allocated for the project but remain in AMARG, awaiting their turn.
The first converted airframe was delivered to the U.S. State Department on December 2, 2010.
AMARC - Aircraft Maintenance And Regeneration Center. 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. Comprehensive source of information on the important j
www.amarcexperience.com
