Carrying on the Family Tradition

The United States Air Force’s new search-and-rescue helicopter is acquitting itself admirably during its first combat deployment. The service reported in January 2023 that a December 2022 rescue mission on Africa’s eastern horn had culminated with an HH-60W Jolly Green II crew saving the lives of two foreign troops. The instance occasioned the first publicized real-world oversea deployment of the HH-60W since the aircraft was declared combat-ready in October 2022.

According to a press release from the USAF’s 435th Air Expeditionary Wing, rescue crews placed on alert status before dawn were dispatched to retrieve injured service members from an undisclosed location. Subject crews alacritously and efficiently located and picked up the casualties and departed the rescue area without incident.

“Pararescuemen performed their own stabilizing emergency medical care in the aircraft’s cabin,” the USAF statement confided.

Casualties safely aboard, the HH-60W crew hastened toward the nearest emergency medical facility where one of the wounded underwent trauma surgery.

The Air Force provided no details pertaining to the cause, severity, or extent of the warfighters’ injuries.

Personnel Recovery Task Force commander Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus Ronnau remarked: “While personnel may be behind enemy lines, or far from needed support, this team is equipped to travel great distances and fight their way in and out if necessary to make the mission happen.” Colonel Ronnau continued: “Even in the vast expanses of Africa, this combined team was able to pull a critical patient from the battlefield with the Air Force’s newest rescue vehicle and place them in the hands of skilled trauma surgeons, ultimately saving two lives.”

The HH-60Ws used in the December rescue are assigned to the USAF’s 449th Air Expeditionary Group at Camp Lemonnier—the only permanent U.S. military base in Africa and home to the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) of the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM). The facility is situated adjacent Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti’s capital city. The group is tasked with personnel recovery, regional airlift, base support, intelligence collection, and airfield operations in support of U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command and foreign militaries in East Africa.

U.S. troops have long been stationed in the tiny, East African nation of Djibouti for purpose of helping to stabilize the Red Sea region and support local militaries in the ongoing fight against terror groups the likes of Al-Shabaab. Currently, some 4,500 American servicemen are stationed at Camp Lemonnier.

Evolved from the ubiquitous UH-60 Blackhawk and named for Sikorsky’s legendary, HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopters—the bright-green liveries of which remain lovingly fixed in the memories of innumerable Vietnam War combat veterans airlifted to safety of field surgeries by the mighty aircraft—the HH-60W is faster and longer legged than its storied forebear, and better able to withstand threats.

At present, Sikorsky—a Lockheed Martin subsidiary—is nearing the end of Jolly Green II production. Total procurement costs for the HH-60W program are projected at $4.1-billion.

In light of shifting, post-Afghanistan priorities, the USAF, in its 2023 budgetary request, petitioned Congress to cut the total number of Jolly Green IIs from a planned 113 units to only 75 helicopters. Lawmakers—in a paroxysm of uncharacteristic lucidity, instead provided funding for an additional ten HH-60Ws, thereby bringing the USAF’s fleet total to 85-aircraft.

The Jolly Green IIs are expected to replace Sikorsky stalwart HH-60G Pave Hawk at active duty and Air National Guard installations around the world. Since its introduction in 1982, the Pave Hawk has served U.S. servicemen in conflicts and emergencies from the jungles of Panama to the mountains of Afghanistan to the Kabuki theaters and Maid Cafes of Japan.

Building on the state-of-the-art UH-60M Black Hawk, Sikorsky engineers endowed the HH-60W with double its progenitor’s internal fuel capacity without resorting to space-hungry auxiliary tanks. The HH-60W features a robust weapons suite, and integrates defensive systems and sensors in a manner conducive to affording operators unprecedented combat range, survivability, and firepower. Additionally, by retaining one-hundred-percent commonality with all UH-60M engine and flight-control systems, the HH-60W retains affordability throughout the entirety of its life-cycle.

FMI: www.af.mil