If a creative solution is not found soon, the State of Israel will be left without its fleet of Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion (Yasur, in Hebrew) helicopters for about one year, Israel Hayom has learned. The reason is that the first two of 18 new Sea Stallions that Israel has ordered won't be delivered before 2026, while State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman determined in a recent report that the Israeli Air Force will be unable to extend the lifespan of the current helicopters beyond 2025.
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The outmoded Yasur fleet first arrived in Israel in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The IAF has repeatedly managed to extend their service life but has warned along the way that the fleet was aging and that decision-makers needed to hasten their selection of a new model. In actuality, due to the governance and budgetary problems in recent years, the decision was postponed and only last February the Ministerial Procurement Committee convened to discuss the matter.
The committee approved the IAF's massive procurement proposal, to be covered by some $9 billion in American aid. Several days later, Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced he had chosen Lockheed Martin's CH-53K King Stallion ("Super Yasur") as the IDF's transport helicopter of the future, picking it over Boeing's CH-47F Chinook.
The Super Yasur is a heavy-lift cargo helicopter that is able to fly 20 knots (23 mph) faster than its CH-53E predecessor. It can carry a payload of 27,000 pounds (12,200 kilograms) over the same radius of 110 nautical miles (204 km). It also features new composite rotor blades and a wider aircraft cabin than previous CH-53 variants. It stands to be the largest and heaviest helicopter used by the US military, which has contracted 200 helicopters at a total cost of $25 billion. Its estimated life span can reach 50 years.
The US State Department approved the sale in January.
Israel intends to purchase 12 King Stallions in the first stage and six others at a later date, in accordance with budgetary constraints that Israeli and US officials are currently trying to overcome via loans that would possibly be deducted from future aid funds. In reality, the Ministerial Procurement Committee has not met again since February to finalize the deal, and it has yet to receive final approval from the US Pentagon.
As stated, Englman has already determined that the lifespan of the current Yasur fleet cannot be extended past 2025, when most of these helicopters will have reached 10,000 flight hours – the absolute limit stipulated by their manufacturer.
The belief is that the letter of agreement will be signed with the Pentagon in early 2022, after which the final deal will be signed. However, even if the deal was finalized tomorrow morning, the first of the Super Yasurs wouldn't arrive in Israel before 2026 due to budgetary and installment issues, not to mention the production time and the time it would take to install Israeli systems. Even after the new helicopter arrives in Israel, it will take several months to make it operational. Moreover, as stated, based on the current rollout plan, only two Super Yasurs will arrive in 2026, with the remainder slated to arrive at a rate of around four per year.
Consequently, the IAF intends to extend the service life of its current Yasur fleet, although it's safe to assume no one would want to drive a vehicle that is over 50 years old, let alone a 50-year-old helicopter that has surpassed its flight hour limit.
Beyond putting the pilots' lives in danger, this could also jeopardize the lives of the combat soldiers ferried behind enemy lines by these helicopters. As a reminder, in 2019, a Yasur helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Judea and Samaria. The Shaldag air force commandos on board were able to exit the aircraft moments before it erupted into flames.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office said: "The IDF and Defense Ministry are working to finalize the necessary approval from the Ministerial Procurement Committee and begin the process of purchasing the CH-53K helicopters. The IAF is working to maintain its operational readiness without impairing its ability to carry out its missions in times of routine and emergency."
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