Marine Corps official floats modular mission payloads for new heavy lift helo
“How can we make this kind of truck … be more than just a truck?” said Col. Kate Fleeger, the Marines’ CH-53K program manager.
A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461, Marine Aircraft Group 29, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, flies en route to El Centro, California during a training exercise, April 13, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Gideon M. Schippers)
MODERN DAY MARINE 2025 — The program manager for the Marine Corps’s new heavy lift helicopter on Tuesday floated the idea of designing modularized payloads that could easily slot into the aircraft and outfit it with varying capabilities.
“[I’m] thinking revolutionized roll-on, roll-off, cargo containers purpose built for the inside of the 53K,” Col. Kate Fleeger told attendees at the Modern Day Marine Exposition in Washington, DC. “Think about 747 cargo boxes that just slide right in, and you know that that’s already been cleared from a size, weight and power perspective. So now all you have to do is build a mission system that fits inside this container, and it can go inside any 53k anywhere in the world and change the mission capability of that aircraft on the fly.”
The Sikorsky-made CH-53K is the Marines’ new heavy lift helicopter capable of carrying 36,000 pounds — three times the payload size of its predecessor, the CH-53E — and is scheduled for its first deployment in 2026. The CH-53K is expected to fully replace the legacy aircraft by 2032.
Fleeger said the concept itself has not been developed beyond her initial idea but was motivated by the question, “How can we make this kind of truck … be more than just a truck?”
“This basically is kind of the transformer concept of, now I’m going to take this attachment, whether it’s a communications package, whether it’s sonobuoy racks,” she said. “Whatever you want to put in your box to turn a cargo helicopter into something that is more.”
She compared it to how some people transform RVs for different purposes such as family transportation, parties and gaming.
Fleeger said the service is actively exploring how to maintain the relevance of the legacy CH-53E during the transition period. For example, she said the Marine Corps successfully launched sonobuoys from a CH-53E during a test last year. “This is a perfect example of the continued relevance of the existing platform while we are transitioning to the 53K. [We’re] looking at what … new tricks we might teach an old dog, but then we can, in turn, employ those on the new aircraft as it comes in.”
In addition to the Marine Corps, Israel has purchased 12 CH-53Ks to date with the potential to buy up to 18. The Israeli Ministry of Defense in March said it inked a deal with Sikorsky to establish a separate production line designed to “modify each aircraft from the standard U.S. Marine Corps configuration to the rigorous operational mission requirements specified by the Israel Air Force.”
