NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, Md. – The first prototype CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter initiated its “bare head light-off” test event Dec. 22 at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.’s Florida Assembly and Flight Operations (FAFO) facility in West Palm Beach.

So named because it was conducted without rotor blades, this test event followed the prerequisite hardware and software systems qualification testing and begins safety-of-flight evaluations with test pilots at the aircraft’s controls.

Once initial bare head testing is completed, the seven main rotor blades and four tail rotor blades will be mounted onto the ground test vehicle (GTV).  This second test phase consists of extensive aircraft system checks that will lead to the formal Pre-Flight Acceptance Test required to clear the first flight aircraft for flight testing.

“We are entering a much-anticipated phase in this developmental program,” said Col. Robert Pridgen, U.S. Marine Corps program manager for the Naval Air Systems Command’s Heavy Lift Helicopters program.  “We have experienced significant learning at the sub-system and component level, which continues to build our confidence in the capabilities of the 53K.  We look forward to the initial validation and discovery at a full system level.”

Mike Torok, Sikorsky’s CH-53K program vice president called the bare head event a “significant step for the CH-53K helicopter program.”

“During independent component and system testing, we have matured the aircraft systems, including electrical and avionics, hydraulics and flight controls, landing gear, propulsion, transmissions and rotors. Now we can begin testing these critical functions as an entire system powered by the GTV aircraft’s three GE 7,500 shaft horsepower engines,” Torok said.

Delivered into the test program in late 2012, the GTV is anchored to the ground at the remote outdoor test site.  The 44,000-pound GTV aircraft is outfitted at more than 1,300 locations with sensors that will measure and verify the ability to operate safely under its own power.  The GTV will undergo ground testing for approximately two years with both U.S. Marine Corps and Sikorsky test pilots at the controls.

First flight, to be conducted with the second prototype aircraft now completing its assembly, is slated for late 2014.  The balance of GTV testing will occur in parallel with the CH-53K program’s four flight test aircraft, and will focus on endurance, maintenance evaluations and survivability.

The CH-53K is a new-build helicopter and will be the only shipboard-compatible helicopter that can lift 100% of the U.S. Marine Corps’s vertical lift equipment from amphibious shipping to inland objectives under high altitude and hot atmospheric conditions.  It will meet the full range of military operations, and is designed to triple the external load carrying capacity of the CH-53E to more than 27,000 pounds over a mission radius of 110 nautical miles under “high hot” ambient conditions.

The Department of Defense program of record remains at 200 CH-53K aircraft with a U.S. Marine Corps initial operational capability in 2019.  The Marine Corps intends to stand up eight operational squadrons and one training squadron to support its operational requirements.