WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The design for a new helicopter to rescue wounded US service members has passed a Critical Design Review (CDR), allowing limited production of the aircraft for testing and evaluation, the defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced in a press release on Monday.
"In preparation for the CDR, the joint team generated more than 300 technical documents, created and reviewed over 50,000 hardware and software requirements, conducted 17 sub-system CDRs and designed 3,000 new parts," the release stated.
The HH-60W is derived from the Black Hawk helicopter under a $1.28 billion contract that was awarded to Lockheed Martin in June 2014, the release explained.
Initially, Lockheed’s subsidiary Sikorski will build nine helicopters for testing and evaluation, the release noted.
The Air Force program calls for construction of 112 helicopters to replace an aging fleet of combat rescue aircraft, according to the release.
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