Sikorsky to integrate Israeli systems on Israel’s CH-53K helicopters

Israel is acquiring 12 CH-53K heavy lifter helicopters from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company. (Lockheed Martin)

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Ministry of Defense says it will pay US defense firm Sikorsky “hundreds of millions of dollars” to integrate Israeli systems on the 12 CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters Israel is acquiring.

According to the new contract Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, “will build a separate production line exclusively to modify each aircraft from the standard U.S. Marine Corps configuration to the rigorous operational mission requirements specified by the Israel Air Force,” the ministry’s statement Monday said. The changes include “unique mission systems and equipment.”

“Additionally, Sikorsky will integrate avionics, navigation systems, and electronic warfare suites supplied by the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” the MoD said. The precise cost of the new upgrades was not disclosed.

Israel often customizes platforms for its own needs. For instance the Lockheed Martin-made F-35 was also upgraded by Israel with unique systems. The Israeli version of that aircraft is called the “Adir” and includes unique systems, including C4 systems developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. Similarly, when Israel acquired new Sa’ar 6 corvettes built in Germany, it filled them with its own systems.

The US State Department agreed to a potential sale of up to 18 of these helicopters to Israel in 2021, and Israel eventually went ahead with a deal for an initial 12 estimated at around $2 billion in 2022. At the time Lockheed Martin said “we are confident that the CH-53K helicopter, designed and built by Lockheed Martin, is the most capable, efficient, and reliable solution to meet the needs of the Israel Air Force.”

The CH-53Ks will replace Israel’s aging fleet of almost two dozen CH-53 Yasur helicopters that Jerusalem has had since 1969. Israel was an early buyer of the helicopter, having sent a delegation to the US in 1968, four years after the first flight of the CH-53A helicopter. The aging Yasur fleet has been upgraded since the 1980s with a view to extending its life by several decades. They were used in the current war that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.