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29 August 2022
by Michael Fabey
The US Coast Guard is shifting over to a fleet of MH-60 helicopters. (Michael Fabey)
The US Coast Guard (USCG) expects to bolster its high-latitude helicopter air operations out of Kodiak, the USCG Arctic gateway, with the planned shift from its EADS MH-65D Dolphins to an entire fleet of Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawks.
“The 60s have greater range,” Lieutenant Commander Lars Anderson, an HC-130 Long Range Surveillance Aircraft pilot and USCG Air Station Kodiak assistant operations officer, told Janes. “They have a bigger payload [-carrying capability].”
The Jayhawks have a range of about 700 n miles (1,296 km), while the Dolphins have a range of about 290 n miles (537 km).
That extended range should help conduct search-and-rescue (SAR) and other high-latitude missions, he said.
Air Station Kodiak has six MH-60Ts and four MH-65Ds.
The shift will also help create a single helicopter logistics train for the service, although USCG officials note they will also have to deploy larger air and maintenance crews for the MH-60Ts than it does for the MH-65Ds.
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