Sikorsky Wins $2.7B to Build CH-53K Helicopters for U.S. Military, Israel

The U.S. Navy awarded Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, a $2.7 billion contract to deliver 35 additional CH-53K helicopters.

This is the largest procurement to date for this multi-mission aircraft.

The agreement includes 12 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 7 aircraft and 15 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 8 aircraft. This contract award includes eight additional CH-53Ks for the Israeli Air Force and follows the initial production announcement in 2022 for the first four aircraft under a U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement.

Sikorsky will begin delivering these aircraft in 2026.

The U.S Navy declared Full Rate Production for the CH-53K program in December 2022. This is expected to increase production to more than 20 helicopters annually in the coming years.

The CH-53K can carry a 27,000-pound external load over 110 nautical miles in high/hot conditions, which is more than triple the external load carrying capacity of the legacy CH-53E aircraft in these same conditions.

The CH-53K King Stallion is designed to conduct expeditionary assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment, and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland from a sea-based center of operations, critical in the Indo-Pacific region. The CH-53K is a digitally designed, market available aircraft, enabling a range of operations such as humanitarian relief, firefighting and search and rescue.