Rotorcraft
Contractors Ready Offers for U.S. Air Force Huey Replacement
Sikorsky as expected will offer a variant of the Black Hawk, while Boeing and Leonardo have teamed to offer the MH-139 intermediate helicopter.
Boeing and Leonardo Helicopters displayed their MH-139 offering to the Air Force at Dulles International Airport. (Photo: Bill Carey)
Boeing and Leonardo Helicopters displayed their MH-139 offering to the Air Force at Dulles International Airport. (Photo: Bill Carey)

Defense contractors are readying proposals to supply the U.S. Air Force with more than 80 helicopters under the service’s UH-1N Huey replacement program. The Air Force has an inventory of 59 twin-engine UH-1Ns, which first entered service in 1970. They now provide security at nuclear missile sites in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana and emergency “continuity of government” transport of officials in Washington, D.C.