CH-53K Test Aircraft Begins New Mission
A CH-53K King Stallion that helped prove the capabilities of the Marine Corps’ newest heavy-lift helicopter is beginning a second career — this time training the Marines who will fly and operate it.
The CH-53K Engineering Development Model known as EDM-2 is being transferred from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to Marine Heavy Helicopter Training Squadron 302 (HMHT-302) at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina.
Instead of returning to flight operations, the developmental aircraft will be converted into the CH-53K program’s first Ground Operations Aircrew Trainer, or GOAT.
From Test Aircraft to Training Aircraft
EDM-2 was one of the early CH-53K aircraft used during the King Stallion’s extensive developmental test program. Engineering Development Models allowed test crews and engineers to evaluate the new helicopter and expand its capabilities before the aircraft entered widespread fleet service.
Now that EDM-2’s developmental flying career has ended, the airframe will continue serving the Marine Corps in a very different role.
At New River, Marines will build up the aircraft as a full-size ground trainer for CH-53K pilots and crew chiefs.
The GOAT will provide hands-on instruction for preflight procedures, daily and turnaround inspections, and cargo-loading operations. Using an actual CH-53K airframe allows Marines to repeatedly practice these procedures without taking an operational King Stallion away from flight operations.
A King Stallion That Was Carried by a King Stallion
EDM-2 has already played a role in one of the CH-53K program’s most unusual demonstrations.
During testing at Patuxent River, a CH-53K assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 21 conducted an aircraft-recovery evaluation by lifting a stripped CH-53K Engineering Development Model as an external load.
The engines, most gearboxes and tail pylon had been removed from the developmental aircraft, reducing its weight to approximately 28,000 pounds.
The test was designed to help develop procedures for recovering a disabled CH-53K. The King Stallion has a maximum external lift capability of approximately 36,000 pounds, making the recovery of another stripped CH-53K possible.
The data collected during the evaluation will help establish standardized procedures should Marines ever need to recover a damaged or disabled King Stallion in the field.
Training the Future Heavy-Lift Force
HMHT-302 is responsible for training the Marines who will operate the Corps’ heavy-lift helicopters, making New River a natural destination for the new trainer.
The CH-53K is replacing the long-serving CH-53E Super Stallion and represents a major increase in Marine Corps heavy-lift capability.
Powered by three T408-GE-400 engines producing more than 7,300 shaft horsepower each, the King Stallion can carry a 27,000-pound external load over a mission radius of 110 nautical miles under demanding high-and-hot conditions. Its maximum external lift capability reaches 36,000 pounds.
The aircraft also incorporates fly-by-wire flight controls, a modern glass cockpit, composite rotor blades and a wider cargo cabin capable of accommodating vehicles and palletized cargo.
For EDM-2, however, the next mission will take place entirely on the ground.
An aircraft once used by engineers and test crews to help develop the King Stallion will now be used by Marines to prepare the pilots and crew chiefs who will take the CH-53K into operational service for decades to come.