SHAH ALAM: Cheap, upgrades Sea Kings for sale. The U.S Department is selling up to a dozen refurbished S-61 Sea King helicopters.
From The Drive.
The General Services Administration (GSA) is already auctioning off the first five S-61Ts – with the U.S. civil registration numbers N107WK, N122WU, N375WS, N575AW, and N898WC – each of which has a starting bid price of $500,000. This does not meet an unspecified reserve price for a final sale, though. The State Department plans to sell its remaining fleet of these helicopters, 13 in total, via GSA within six months, according to the Department’s Press Relations Office
The article further said:
The State Department S-61Ts were based on donor airframes that came straight from Navy. That service had retired the bulk of its Sea Kings in the 1990s, but did continue using them in very limited numbers into the late-2000s. The State Department obtained other SH-3s from the Bone Yard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The very last of Navy’s SH-3s had originally rolled off of Sikorsky’s production line in the 1970s, though many did receive significant upgrades in the decades that followed.
Sikorsky developed the S-61T conversion process with Carson Helicopters, which involved a major overhaul of the airframes, as well as the addition of significant upgrades. The updates included a new main rotor assembly with five Carson composite material blades, a glass cockpit, improved avionics and other mission systems, and modular wiring assemblies to rapidly install additional systems per the customer’s request.
The State Department had agreed to purchase up to 110 S-61Ts when it signed its contract with Sikorsky in 2010. The specific requirements for the Air Wing’s helicopters included adding missile approach warning sensors, decoy flare launchers, added armor for the crew, and provisions for door-mounted GAU-17/A Miniguns.
As you are aware RMAF is also operating a single Nuri which had undergone an upgrade program. The status of the second one remained unclear. Originally it was planned that all of the Nuri still in service will be upgraded but it is looking more unlikely at the moment.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (31)
If we still want to fly the Nuri's.
Buying those would be a quick cheap way to have additional helicopters, already upgraded. Those helicopters are even equipped with MAWS and chaff and flare dispesnsers, item even our EC725 lacks.
https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/foundry/image/?q=60&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1554935987105-s-61n.jpg
Look at the grey boxes behind the cockpit and on the tail. Those are chaff/flare dispensers.
https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/foundry/image/?q=60&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1554935226749-cockpit.jpg
Look at the cockpit diferrences
If we can snap them up at around USD2-3mil a piece it would be a steal!
Lets see how long it takes civilian operators to snap them up.
@...
If TUDM & TDM doesn't want the Nuri chopper platform, even if they were a steal, getting them is moot.
If upgrading our Nuri is going to cost more then this helo bid price, I say go for it.
Our non flying Nuri (I saw 3, if not 4 non flying Nuri sitting in TUDM Kuching Base for almost a year of not more) could be use for parts or for reserve.
The initial auction is for 5 S-61T. There will be another 13 S-61T left if the first 5 is sold.
My thoughts? Go for it if PUTD wants it. Then all remaining nuris and associated spares and support equipment passed to PUTD. Heli VIP tasks passed to PUTD. TUDM to be all EC725/EC225 heli fleet.
Sea King at UK and now at US is phasing out. Thus, the maintenance going be high soon. I think RMAF should just keep 6 to 10 Nuri and using normal operation cost to do life extension without any upgrade. The rest will be spare part. I dun see the new government will upgrade it but try to get a cheaper workhorse from Russia. It suitable for the army but not for the airforce. Just keep 12 H225m + limited Nuri for it own operation.
Will require US approval.
With our palm oil will be banned for biodiesel use in Europe, estimated around 500tonne to 700 tonne per year loss of sale as currently EU nation imported around 1.8 million tonne, with 60-70% use for food. That is equivalent of USD200 million a year loss of revenue.
So buying more European military hardware may not be in the flavour for the next 2 to 3 years at least. I personally feel that the Nuri though still full of life, should not be further extended its usage more than the next 5 years. Thus if possible and if budget permit, a replacement from the US or maybe even Korean (KAI Surion) should be considered instead
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Most of the Surion components come from EU as well
Actually other countries phasing out can be a good blessing, as there would be huge amouts of unused spare we can get for free if we ask politely.
@ kamal
Surion is just a dressed up Eurocopter Puma.
I've been saying this previously and I'd like to reiterate my point again.
RMAF doesn't need for nuri 1:1 replacement. Unlike the old days where almost all government agencies relied on RMAF for heli transport, nowadays other agencies had their own aviation fleet with their own helicopters;
the police, bomba, mmea, even the army.
At most RMAF would only need additional 6 EC-725 for critical missions while they could maintain the existing nuri fleet for less important tasks (VIP transport, cargo transport, humanitarian effort or medevac). If anything, it's the navy that need more helos to shoulder these less important tasks off the super lynxes which are wearing fast
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The Super Lynx fleet has only flown 10000 hours since its introduction in 2004