US Air Force begins first phase inspection of its new combat rescue helicopter

U.S. Air Force Airmen with the 41st Rescue Generation Squadron performed a phase inspection on a HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, according to a recent service news release.

The Air Force said in a release that this will be the first 720-hour phase inspection done on the Whiskey since it entered service.

The “Whiskey” model introduces more modern capabilities to the rescue community than it’s predecessor, while maintaining the characteristics that made the Pave Hawk an effective system for nearly three decades.

The primary mission of the HH-60W helicopter will be conducting day or night operations into hostile environments to recover isolated personnel during war.

The platform will also be tasked to perform military operations other than war, including civil search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster response, humanitarian assistance, security cooperation/aviation advisory, NASA space-flight support, and rescue command and control.

Jolly Green IIs wields a 7.62 mm Gatling gun that fires 3,000 rounds per minute, a .50 caliber machine gun that can fire 1,100 rounds per minute, and a .50 caliber machine gun that can reach 800 rounds per minute.

Source: Defence – Blog