CH-53K Helicopter Displays Massive Heavy Lift Capability Ahead of Deployment

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

After years of engineering, testing, construction and development, the new Marine Corps CH-53K Super Stallion Heavy Lift is fast-approaching Initial Operational Capability on its way to deployment.

During a 2023 Budget hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee – Defense Subcommittee, Marine Corps leaders and members of Congress

The emerging “K” model CH-53 is engineered to provide more lift, speed, performance and protection compared to prior models.

CH-53K 

Berger explained that the new CH-53K helicopter lifted a 14,000 pound crashed H-60 at 12,000 feet, demonstrating an unprecedented ability to perform high-risk, heavy lift missions in combat. Berger stressed that there was nothing in the inventory

“We have to make sure it’s affordable,” Berger told lawmakers, explaining that Foreign Military Sales of the helicopter and increased production will lower the cost per unit of the aircraft and improve the prospects for long-term sustainment.

The idea with the helicopter has been to engineer a new aircraft with much greater performance and three-times the lift capacity compared to the existing CH-53E or “Echo” model aircraft designed in the 1980’s, Navy weapons developers told me several years ago when the new “K” model was earlier on in its development.

Earlier in the development of the CH-53K, Marine Corps program managers said the requirement for the new helicopters is to be able to lift 27,000 pounds, take it 110 nautical miles, stay 30 minutes on station and then be able to return to a ship under high hot conditions. This lift capacity is three-times the 9,000-pound lift ability of the existing Echo model. The initial requirement for the “K” model CH-53 emerged out of the need to build a variant with much more lift. a Marine Corps study which looked at the combat aviation elements of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF).