"The CH-53K King Stallion program has successfully completed its first extended cross country flight [of 810 miles] from Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Florida, facility to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland," the release said on Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin explained the new helicopter has a heavy lift capability three times that of its predecessor. The chopper can carry an internally loaded High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle and up to three independent external loads simultaneously.
The King Stallion has been designed with fly-by-wire flight controls and related technologies that reduce pilot workload allowing the helicopter to fly itself, Lockheed Martin added.
The US Department of Defense has ordered 200 CH-53K units and the first six will be delivered to the US Marine Corps in 2018, according to the release.
