Tag Archives: stallion

Vehicle I-D: King of the Stallions stampedes Idaho!

At least 50 wild horses roam the Saylor Creek Herd Management Area. Photo via the BLM.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is always complaining about the wild Mustangs that roam across Idaho, but this new King of the Stallions actually flies!

U.S. Marine Corps graphic by Corporal Lauren Salmon.

During the month of August 2022, the U.S. Marine Corps conducted the first ever live-fire ‘wargame’ for its new CH-53K King Stallion, over the Saylor Creek bombing/gunnery range in South-Central Idaho.

USMC photo by Corporal Adam Henke, 11AUG2022.

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461 had the honors, and launched out of the U.S. Air Force’s Mountain Home Air Force Base, in Southwestern Idaho.  HMH-461 in based in North Carolina, they chose Idaho to test their new mount, because Idaho is geographically and climatically different from North Carolina.

USMC photo by Corporal Adam Henke, 17AUG2022.

USMC video, by Corporal Adam Henke, HMH-461 gets their King Stallion acquainted with the High Desert terrain of Idaho, 08AUG2022:

The USMC, and Lockheed-Sikorsky, claim the new-build CH-53K is more powerful, can fly higher, can stay airborne longer, is safer and easier to maintain than the older CH-53E Super Stallion.

USMC Corporal Adam Henke video of heavy lift operation, 17AUG2022:

In my opinion, the King Stallion is different enough that it should be considered its own helicopter family, apart from the CH-53 lineage.

USMC Corporal Adam Henke video of GAU-21 .50-cal ‘door-gunner’ live-fire, 17AUG2022:

USMC music video, by Corporal Adam Henke, of the first ‘exercise’ of the King Stallion, 30AUG2022:

March, 2021: CH-53K KING STALLION UPDATE

Weapon I-D, 2021: DOOR GUNNER .50 CAL

Idaho, Saylor Creek Range: 4TH TIME IS THE CHARM, IDAHO ‘HAWGSMOKES’ THE COMPETITION, AGAIN!

Idaho, OCTC: IDAHO INVADED BY APACHES FROM ARIZONA & SINGAPORE?

Cold War to Ukraine Crisis: USAF SENDS 27 BLOCK-25 FALCONS TO THE BONEYARD!

Vehicle I-D:  SUKHOI-75, THE CHECKMATE, WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?

JORDANIAN COBRAS الكوبرا الأردني, OR HOW TO REBUILD (and then sell) YOUR U.S. FUNDED AH-1S/F.

Vehicle I-D: CH-53K King Stallion update

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Yuritzy Gomez.

Video by Lance Corporal Elias E. Pimentel the Third, CH-53K crew shows off for some Commandant of the Marine Corps guy during his visit to Camp Davis, North Carolina, 17MAR2021:

USMC photo by Sergeant Kathryn Adams.

Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David H. Berger, flies a CH-53K simulator aboard Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River in North Carolina, 17MAR2021, prior to taking a ride in the real thing over Marine Corps Outlying Field (MCOF) Camp Davis.

USMC photo by Sergeant Kathryn Adams.

USMC photo by Sergeant Kathryn Adams.

The 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David H. Berger, and 19th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Troy E. Black, ride in a CH-53K with VMX-1 Commanding Officer Col Byron D. Sullivan, flying over MCAS New River-MCOF Camp Davis, 17MAR2021.

USMC photo by Corporal Damaris Arias.

Heavy lift testing at MCOF Camp Davis, 03FEB2021.  In the photo the King Stallion is lifting a 4-thousand pound (1814 Kg) block of concrete.

USMC photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher O’Quin.

On 15JAN2021, King Stallion made its first flight from MCAS New River after having been solely maintained and brought to readiness by U.S. Marine personnel.

Video by Lance Corporal Chelsi Woodman, 100% USMC personnel CH-53K flight prep and hover over MCAS New River, 15JAN2021:

U.S. Navy photo.

KC-130J refuels the CH-53K during ‘refueling wake testing’, 06APR2020.

Silent U.S. Navy video of refueling tests over the Chesapeake Bay, 06APR2020:

USN photo.

CH-53K ‘justification’ video from 2019:

 

Vehicle I-D, 2018: THE NEW CH-53K KING STALLION

Vehicle I-D: CH-53K King Stallion

Forget the CH-53 Super Stallion, there’s a new heavy lift Marine coming onboard; CH-53K King Stallion.

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Ethan Pumphret.

Marine Operational Test & Evaluation Squadron-1 load the main gear box of the new CH-53K King Stallion onto the aircraft, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, North Carolina, 03OCT2018.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Samuel Lyden.

The first CH-53K King Stallion hovers above the flight line at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, North Carolina, 16MAY2018.It’s not a rebuild, it’s completely new with reduced weight yet stronger construction, fly-by-wire, and able to lift three times more that the Super Stallion (externally transport 27-thousand pounds/12247 kilos over 110 nautical miles/127 miles/203.7km and has a max external lift of 36-thousand pounds/16329.3 kilos).  The most noticeable visual difference is the cockpit/nose section of the rotary wing aircraft.

USMC photo by Sergeant Matthew Callahan.

The first CH-53K King Stallion taxis across the flight line at MCAS New River, North Carolina, 16MAY2018.

Offical U.S. Marine Corps video explainer:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Samuel Lyden.

Another video, MCAS New River, North Carolina, 16MAY2018:

USMC photo by Sergeant Matthew Callahan.

USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Leynard Kyle Plazo.

USMC photo by Corporal Hailey D. Clay.

USMC General checks out the new CH-53K at the Berlin Air Show, Berlin ExpoCenter Airport, Schönefeld, Deutschland, 25APR2018.

USMC photo by Corporal Hailey D. Clay.

Video of heavy lift demo at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, 18JAN2018:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Molly Hampton.

Test flight over West Palm Beach, Florida, 22MAR2017.

Official video from April 2017:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Molly Hampton.

By April 2017, the CH-53K had passed its Defense Acquisition Board assessment, and low-rate initial production began. The CH-53K is scheduled to completely replace the CH-53E Super Stallion by 2030.

USMC photo by Staff Sergeant Gabriela Garcia.

“Experimental” silly-vilian colors (and nose) at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Florida, 08MAR2016.

USMC photo by Staff Sergeant Gabriela Garcia.

Vehicle I-D: CH-53 SEA STALLION MCAS-YUMA, APRIL 2017

Vehicle I-D: CH-53 Stud USMC Arizona

USMC Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment CH-53E Super Stallion during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course (WTI) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 07 October 2016:

2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division fast ropes out of a CH-53E Super Stallion at Auxiliary Airfield 2, Yuma, Arizona, 30 September 2016: