Aurora Flight Sciences, CLARKSBURG: Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that it has been selected by Sikorsky Aircraft to design and manufacture a major subassembly of the latest-generation CH-53 heavy-lift military helicopter, the CH-53K. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
This assembly, known as the Main Rotor Pylon (MRP), is one of six major fuselage sections and houses the CH-53K's Main Rotor Head, the No. 2 engine and other aircraft subsystems. Made primarily of composite material, the MRP will be fabricated by Aurora Flight Sciences of West Virginia, located in Clarksburg at the Harrison-Marion Regional Airport and shipped to Sikorsky for integration in the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter.
The three-engine CH-53K will be the world's premier heavy-lift helicopter. It is a derivative design leveraging the lessons learned from almost half a century of manufacturing and operating the earlier CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter.
In April 2006, Sikorsky Aircraft was awarded a $3.0 billion System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract for the CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement Aircraft Program. The SDD contract could lead to the production of 156 CH-53K aircraft. The CH-53K's maximum gross weight will increase to 84,700 pounds versus 73,500 pounds for the CH-53E.
“Aurora Flight Sciences designs and builds lightweight composite aircraft structures for manned and unmanned aircraft. Our role in designing and building the Main Rotor Pylon for the CH-53K is a logical extension of our current work on programs such as the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial System (UAS),” said Aurora President John Langford.
The design phase of the program begins immediately. Main Rotor Pylon assemblies will initially be built for seven test and certification aircraft (four Engineering Development Models, one Ground Test Vehicle, one Static Test Article and one Fatigue Test Article.) The CH-53K SDD program schedule runs through the end of September 2015.
Aurora Flight Sciences develops and provides robotic aircraft and other advanced aerospace vehicles for scientific and military applications. Aurora is headquartered in Manassas, VA and operates production plants in Clarksburg, WV and Columbus, MS and a Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is a world leader in helicopter design, manufacturing and service. United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Conn., provides a broad range of high technology products and support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.
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