Four MH-65E Helicopters Issued By the US Coast Guard in Recent Months

Helicopter Services - Search And Rescue

Earlier this month and late last year, the US Coast Guard issued four MH-65E choppers. Three helicopters were delivered to Air Station Port Angeles, Washington while one was taken to the Aviation Training Center located in Alabama.

With this addition of four upgrades, now 14 aircraft have been updated to the Echo configuration. Now, Air Station Port is the third air center to finish the movement to the upgraded configuration.

This upgrade to the “E” configuration means many improvements for the Automatic Flight Control in terms of reliability and capability. With the enhancements to the Echo configuration staff at the control, the tower will enjoy the integration of a robust command, communications, computers, surveillance, intelligence, reconnaissance with enhanced digital surface/weather search radar.

This means that there will be improved search and rescue capabilities. These improvements will help rescue pilots can now safely maneuver through congested or complex air traffic normally experienced during disaster response.

As if that was not enough, the Coast Guard is also willing to replace five major structural components through their Service Life Extension Program. The program will fix the canopy, floorboards, side panels, center console floor assembly, and the nine-degree frame. With these critical improvements, the Coast Guard intends to increase the service life of these helicopters by around 10, 000 flight hours.

In the next step, the Coast Guard intends to convert even more air stations to the MH-65E configuration. Air Stations Barbers Point in Hawaii is scheduled to be the next to receive the upgraded aircraft to finish the transition. Previously, the Air Stations Miami and Houston were the most recent to be upgraded.

Hopefully, by 2024, the Coast Guard intends to have finished upgrading the remaining 98 aircraft into MH-65E configuration.

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