Sikorsky’s King Stallion gives USMC added muscle: Weapon of the week

time now for our weapon of the week and check out this Beast of a helicopter we were already planning to Spotlight the skorski CH 53k King Stallion when a link to this video came across our desk talk about multitasking this Marine Corps crew is merely refueling while transporting an F-35 to a Navy unit in New Jersey that is impressive and really that just begins to scratch the surface on the latest version of a platform that's been in use since 1966 from the sea stallion to the Super Stallion to now the King Stallion the ch-53 is as Dependable as it is versatile the king stallions primary user is the US Marine Corps and right now there are 14 in the fleet with another 79 contracted to be built while it may look similar to its predecessor the King Stallion is saddled with some sign ific upgrades the three engines are capable of generating 7500 horsepower giving the platform three times the lift capability of the previous version it also comes equipped with composite rotor blades and a wider cabin as for its performance according to the program manager Marine Colonel Kate fleager the King Stallion is already showing what it's capable of in the hands of Marine pilots the CH 53k was called upon to lift a down h60 uh in Bishop California right on the border with Nevada uh that had gone down up in the mountains uh just for some context that aircraft uh the h60 weighed 15,000 lbs and was up at an altitude of I'm sorry elevation of 12,000 right so extremely high um and extremely heavy and the 53k is the only aircraft in the dod inventory that could make that lift one of the reasons why it make lifts like that is its construction parts that used to be made of metal are now at least in part made of composite materials that are as strong as metal but considerably lighter another nod to technology can be found in the All glass cockpit a feature that puts it on par with most other aircraft being produced today with a top speed of 230 mph the King Stallion can carry a sling load of 27,000 lb for more than 100 miles of course all of this does not come cheap with a price tag of 122 million the CH 53k costs as much as an F35 but with an estimated 50 years of life expectancy Uncle Sam should get plenty of bang for the buck [Music]

Channel: Weapons and Warfare

Views: 598

Keywords: America, American News, American Politics, Breaking, Media, News media, PODCAST, Podcast, RYAN ROBERTSON, Ryan Robertson, Social Media, Straight Arrow News, Straight Facts, USA, Unbiased Straight Facts, Unbiased news, WEAPONS & WARFARE, Weapons & Warfare, news, podcast, ryan robertson, weapons & warfare

Id: s1edTxPdtI0

Length: 2min 54sec (174 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024