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Sikorsky CH-53K prototype awaits transport to testing facility. Contributed photo

The new Super Stallion is ready for lift-off, sort of. Sikorsky announced Tuesday the first prototype CH-53K being developed for the Marines has rolled off the assembly line in Florida and been delivered for tests.

This is a ground test vehicle, which will be harnessed to earth for much of its existence where 1,300 sensors will track its performance as it’s put through its paces.

“The primary purpose of the GTV is to shake out the CH-53K helicopter’s dynamic systems by thoroughly testing and measuring the performance of the rotor blades, transmission, and engines while the aircraft is tied to the ground,” said Michael Torok, Sikorsky’s CH-53K Program Vice President. “Extensive ground-based flight checks with Sikorsky and NAVAIR test pilots at the cockpit controls will confirm whether these dynamic systems, as well as hydraulic, electrical, and avionics systems, can meet the requirements established by the Marines for their next-generation heavy lift helicopter.”

Though designed to the same footprint size as the CH-53E Super Stallion^™ helicopters they will begin to replace in 2019, CH-53K helicopters will triple the external load carrying capacity to more than 27,000 pounds over 110 nautical miles under “high hot” ambient conditions. Technology enablers for increased lift include 7,500-shaft-horsepower GE38-1B engines; a split torque transmission design that more efficiently distributes engine power to the main rotors; fourth-generation composite rotor blades for enhanced lift; and a composite airframe structure.

Flight test engineers will spend the coming months performing preliminary acceptance tests that include calibrating the GTV’s fuel system and attaching measuring devices at more than 1,300 test locations on the aircraft to record temperature, aerodynamic loads, pressure and vibrations. By mid 2013, the GTV will be attached to a specially built outdoor platform to hold the aircraft in place when its three engines are powered on — a process known as a “light-off.” Initial light-off test events will be performed without rotor blades, followed by more rigorous tests with the blades attached.

“This is an important point of transition for the CH-53K program,” said Col. Robert Pridgen, program manager for the heavy lift helicopters. “I am encouraged by the initial results of our testing at the component and subsystem level. Now we bring it all together. The GTV is our first dynamic system-level integration of those same components. We are looking forward to the sights and sounds these next heavy lifters will bring to the Marine Corps.”

Sikorsky is designing, building and testing the GTV and the four flight aircraft — designated Engineering Development Models — as part of a $3.5 billion System Development and Demonstration contract. Two additional ground test articles are undergoing airframe structural testing at Sikorsky’s main manufacturing plant in Stratford, Conn., as part of the same contract. The aircraft’s major fuselage sections are supplied by Aurora Flight Sciences, ITT Excelis, GKN Aerospace and Spirit Aerosystems.

Expectations are to get the next wave of prototype CH-53Ks in the air in 2014 and 2015.

Source: Sikorsky Press release.