Fleet pilots at NAS Pax River began getting their
first crack at the Corps’ newest attack and utility
helicopters, the AH-1Z SuperCobra and the UH-1Y Huey, in the first
operational assessment for the H-1 Upgrades Program. The
assessmentwill be comprised of five sorties for each aircraft and
will represent tactical missions to be flown by the aircraft once
they reach the Fleet, according to Maj. Harry Hewson, PMA-276
deputy program manager for Operations.
Conducting the operational assessment will be 25 enlisted
Marines and four officers, all of whom are assigned to the H-1
Operational Test Team and fall under the operational control of
VX-9 at China Lake, Calif. Developmental testing will continue
around the OT flights, which is why three months have been
scheduled to complete the 10 sorties, according to Hewson.
The assessment starts as U.S.-built UH-1 Hueys have achieved a
total of more than 22.2 million flight hours since the first HU-1
was delivered in 1958, according to Hank Perry, Bell
Helicopter-Textron’s manager of USMC Requirements. The AH-1
Cobra/SuperCobra, in its various iterations, has achieved more than
4.5 million flight hours since the first one, the AH-1G, was
delivered in 1967.
“The actual purpose of this assessment is to determine if
these aircraft are potentially operationally effective,”
Hewson explained. “But this is not a full-blown operational
evaluation, it’s merely an initial look by Fleet pilots.
These aircraft are still in the developmental phase and we want the
operational test team guys to tell us if we’re on the right
track. We’re confident they’ll tell us we
are.”
Based in Pax River, the aircraft will fly missions that could
take them to Quantico, Va., New River, N.C., and the Aberdeen (Md.)
Proving Ground. The missions will not include live fire or any
night flying, Hewson added.
“This is an important milestone for the program,”
stated Col. Doug Isleib, PMA-276 program manager. “This is
the first time the fleet guys will get an operational look at these
aircraft. Besides getting an indication of whether or not
we’re potentially operationally effective, we need to get a
fresh and different perspective from the Fleet.”
Aside from that fresh perspective, the operational assessment
marks an important milestone for the new helicopters, according to
Isleib. “This is a key element in getting to our first
Defense Acquisition Board, which, in turn, will get these aircraft
into production and out to the Fleet where they’re
needed,” he added.
The actual flights will take place following simulator training
for the operational test pilots at the Bell plant in Texas. [ANN
Thanks John C. Milliman, PMA-276 PAO]