The U.S. Navy awarded Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, a $2.7 billion contract to build and deliver 35 additional CH-53K® helicopters – the largest procurement to date for this multi-mission aircraft.
“This contract award for 35 CH-53K helicopters stabilizes Sikorsky’s nationwide supply base, creates additional production efficiencies, and provides the U.S. Marine Corps with transformative 21st century technologies,” said Paul Lemmo, president of Sikorsky.
“Our long-standing partnership led to this best value contract award providing the capability and readiness the Marines need,” he added.
The agreement includes 12 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 7 aircraft, 15 U.S. Marine Corps Lot 8 aircraft, and eight aircraft for Israel.
Sikorsky will begin delivering these aircraft in 2026.
This contract significantly advances Sikorsky and the U.S. Navy on the path toward a multi-year agreement and the 200 aircraft Marine Corps Program of Record.
This contract award includes eight additional CH-53K helicopters for the Israeli Air Force and follows the initial production announcement in 2022 for the first four aircraft under a U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement.
The multi-mission CH-53K will support Israeli special operations programs, as well as provide the Israeli Defense Forces with a platform that has the speed, safety, survivability and gross weight capability to support all of its missions, including troop and cargo transport, and search and rescue.
The U.S Navy declared Full Rate Production for the CH-53K program in December 2022. This is expected to increase production to more than 20 helicopters annually in the coming years.
Sikorsky is procuring long-lead items and critical materials to support ramp up of CH-53K production in its digital factory.
“Our skilled employees are using digital tools to build more efficiently as these helicopters roll off the production line and into the hands of the Marines,” said Dana Fiatarone, Vice President, Sikorsky Marine Corps Systems.
“The performance of the CH-53K in the fleet validates its capabilities to provide a strategic advantage and shows that even more is possible with this aircraft,” he added.
The CH-53K operated by Marines in the fleet continue to achieve milestones:
- U.S. Marines exceed 1,000 operational flight hours in the CH-53K
- CH-53K completed second successful sea trial
- U.S. Marines transferred supplies from KC-130 into a CH-53K
The CH‑53K is a multi-mission helicopter with heavy-lift capabilities that exceed all other U.S. Department of Defense rotary wing aircraft and is the only heavy-lift helicopter that will remain in production through 2032 and beyond. The CH-53K can carry a 27,000-pound external load over 110 nautical miles in high/hot conditions, which is more than triple the external load carrying capacity of the legacy CH-53E aircraft in these same conditions.
The CH-53K King Stallion is designed to conduct expeditionary assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment, and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland from a sea-based center of operations, critical in the Indo-Pacific region. The CH-53K is a digitally designed, market available aircraft, enabling a range of operations such as humanitarian relief, firefighting and search and rescue.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 116,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
