14 MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopters added back into the budget
September 12, 2024
The US Air Force originally planned to acquire 80 Boeing MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopters, but the total was reduced by 38 helicopters to 42 in the 2025 fiscal year budget, virtually halving the fleet. The Grey Wolf buy was reportedly reduced due to “topline affordability constraints,” but by spreading programme costs over a smaller number of aircraft, triggered a ‘critical’ Nunn-McCurdy cost breach.
The Pentagon’s recently published Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) has confirmed that there is now an authorization to add 14 additional helicopters back into the budget, taking the planned fleet back to “at least 56 air vehicles,” lifting the programme out of the Nunn-McCurdy threshold, and partially reversing the cutback.
The MH-139A Grey Wolf is a military derivative of the highly successful, class-leading Leonardo AW139, and is produced through a joint venture between Boeing and Leonardo, with airframes being built at Leonardo’s factory in Philadelphia, after which they are transferred to Boeing’s Ridely Park facility for militarization, which includes survivability enhancements and the integration of military communications, navigation, and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) systems.
The USAF originally intended to procure 84 MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to replace the 63 UH-1N helicopters used by Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) for protecting dispersed ICBM sites across Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska. They are also used by the Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) to provide contingency response and airlift, transporting US government officials and Security Forces in the National Capital Region.
Helicopter numbers were progressively reduced to a planned total of 36 production MH-139As, before the latest changes.
The first 13 pre-production MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters were used for the Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) phase, flying from Eglin’s Duke Field from 19 December 2019.
Boeing completed the final FAA Supplemental Type Certification required for the MH-139A to achieve its Military Flight Release, in mid-August 2022, and conducted the first flight of a production MH-139 Grey Wolf on 23 December 2023. In August 2023, US Air Force officials said that they had secured access to the aircraft’s technical data packages, which will allow for more service-led maintenance and more competition among contractors for contractorised support and sustainment.
The US Air Force accepted four MH-139A Grey Wolf test aircraft allowing developmental testing to begin. The first field-ready MH-139 Grey Wolf arrived at Malmstrom Air Force Base in March 2024, where the 341st Missile Wing received its first assigned MH-139A on 3 April 2024.
The Boeing MH-139A Grey Wolf Formal Training Unit, the 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell AFB introduced its first MH-139A Grey Wolf Helicopter on 31 May 2024.
