The U.S. Army had planned to get rid of all its UH-1 Huey helicopters, which began flying in the late 1950s—almost half a century ago—by September of this year.
The US Department of Defence (DoD) contracted Bell Helicopter to deliver 10 refurbished UH-1 Huey II utility helicopters to two African nations for a combined USD86.79 million.
The contracts, announced by the DoD on 27 September 2016, will see five helicopters delivered to Kenya and five to Uganda before the end of 2016.
While the cost of the Ugandan contract is USD34.54 million(KES 3.5Bilion), that for Kenya is valued at USD52.24 million(KES 5.2Bilion). This difference is most likely explained by differing sustainment and support packages for each nation as explained below.
The Huey II upgrade kit takes a standard UH-1 and equips it with a more powerful engine, new dynamic parts (such as rotors, transmissions, and gearboxes), new wiring, and an optional ‘glass’ cockpit. The surplus airframes have also been ‘zero-timed‘.
AGING Problems
The last Huey was manufactured in 1977. As the Huey aged, maintenance costs and safety problems increased. In 1998, the Army temporarily grounded its entire fleet, citing gear failures in the aircraft’s T53-L-13 engine.
The upgrades can’t come too fast for the Marines’ aging Huey fleet. In January, four Leathernecks were killed when their UH-1 crashed in the rugged Talega Canyon area of Camp Pendleton, California.
Bell began working with the Army to design an upgrade program to eliminate the aircraft’s safety problems and improve performance. The result was a predecessor to the Bell 210, the Huey II, Fitzgerald said. “What you got was a Huey on steroids.” He cites these changes:
The engine has been replaced with the T53-L-703—the same one that propels the Cobra. The new engine provides 28 percent more takeoff power and lifts 642 pounds of additional payload with essentially the same fuel consumption as the current UH-1H, Fitzgerald said.
The Huey is popular in the international market for used helicopters, Fitzgerald said. A competitor is the Russian-built Mi-17 Hip multi-mission helicopter. “The problem with it is long-term support,” he said.
Still, he said, “I think the Huey II is an exciting program. There’s nothing else like it. For $2 million, you basically get a new helicopter.”