Upgrades could double H-53 availability

[unhappycamper]

H-53 upgrades
Aircraft expected to be received by 2013


Upgrades could double H-53 availability
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 29, 2008 8:14:32 EDT

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — Navy officials are upgrading the fleet of H-53 Navy and Marine helicopters in hopes of doubling their average flight availability by 2013, according to a naval aviation spokeswoman.

The increases are made possible by a $150 million engine upgrade that includes installing titanium nitride-coated blades on helicopter engine compressors during repairs and overhauls. The hard coating protects the blades from sand abrasion, which reduced the average time on wing during the 1991 Persian Gulf War to just more than 100 hours, meaning some helicopters spent as much time having their engines overhauled as they did in the air.

Half of Navy and Marine H-53s have been upgraded, and officials expect all H-53s to have received them by 2013.

The result would be like providing twice the number of Navy and Marine H-53 helos in the inventory, which are used for everything from carrying Marine Humvees over Iraq to searching for mines in the Persian Gulf.

If all goes as planned, Navy officials say, they will have increased the scheduled time on wing of each helicopter’s three T64 turboshaft engines from less than 350 hours in 2003 to 1,100 hours by 2013. The average time on wing for an H-53 engine was 665 hours last year, Naval Air Systems Command spokeswoman Stephanie Vendrasco said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/navy_helicopters_032908w/