Navy taps Sikorsky for database to support CH-53K helicopters

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has awarded $38.2 million to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for a cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order in support of the CH-53K helicopter program.

The order, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, is tacked onto a previously determined ordering agreement.

Under the terms of the deal, Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, will develop and deliver a provisioning parts database of technical information that will feature drawings for all organizational, intermediate and depot levels of the CH-53K program.

The CH-53K King Stallion is a heavy-lift helicopter that can carry three external loads at once, featuring fly-by-wire flight controls. It completed its first long-range test flight in mid-2017.

Scheduled work, expected to be finished in November 2023, will be conducted in Stratford, Conn.

The Navy has obligated $8.6 million in fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds at the time of award.