Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (July 11, 2024): America has a new chopper to patrol intercontinental ballistic missile fields, the Grey Wolf. In this photo by Samuel King Jr., Jake Marsh with the 96th Operations Group performs a preflight check on the new MH-139A Grey Wolf’s rotors after one of its last test flights. The Grey Wolf underwent four years of developmental testing by the 413th Flight Test Squadron and is now being delivered to nuclear bases at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, and Minot AFB, North Dakota.
The Grey Wolf replaces the UH-1N Huey that entered service in 1970. The new chopper is a joint venture between Boeing and Leonardo Aerospace and is a militarized version of the civilian AW139 helicopter that can fly faster, higher, farther, and with more weight than the aging Huey. The civilian version is currently used for VIP/corporate transport, offshore transport, firefighting, law enforcement, and search and rescue. The Air Force says the Grey Wolf can cruise fifty percent faster and farther than the Huey with a larger cabin and the ability to lift an additional five thousand pounds.
The military version is a dual-piloted, twin-engine helicopter that integrates military communication, navigation, transponder, and survivability enhancements. Key features include cockpit and cabin armor, self-sealing crashworthy fuel cells, a countermeasures dispenser set, and two externally mounted M240 machine guns. It can fly three hours, or 225 nautical miles, without refueling and is designed to carry nine combat equipped troops and their equipment.
The 96th Test Wing is the evaluation center for air-delivered weapons, navigation, guidance, and command and control systems for the Air Force.