Maintenance Issues, Availability Rate Shortfalls Plaguing Pave Hawk Fleet

The Air Force’s combat search and rescue fleet of HH-60G Pave Hawks are flying well beyond their service lives and face increasing maintenance challenges as the service works to bring on its replacement. The Government Accountability Office, in a report released Thursday, detailed issues with the current HH-60G fleet, such as a mission capable rate of 68 percent, below the Air Force’s desired rate of 75 percent. Pave Hawks spent 332 days in depot maintenance on average in Fiscal 2017, compared to 233 days in Fiscal 2007. The current 96-helicopter fleet averages about 7,100 flight hours, 18 percent more than the initial expected life of 6,000 hours. Sikorsky Corp. is planning to accelerate the schedule for the helicopter’s replacement, the HH-60W Pave Hawk II, with a goal of delivery as early as March 2020. —Brian Everstine