Mission: The HH-60W Jolly Green II replaces the HH-60G Pave Hawk as a dedicated Combat Rescue Helicopter.
Commanders will employ units equipped with the HH-60W to recover isolated personnel from hostile or denied territory, day or night, in adverse weather, and in a variety of threat environments from terrorist to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN). Also, to conduct humanitarian missions, civil search and rescue, disaster relief, medical evacuation, and non-combatant evacuations.
Features: The HH-60W is designed from the ground up with integrated mission systems that improve situational awareness for aircrews conducting the CSAR mission in contested environments. The helicopters feature new multi-function displays to provide pilots with critical flight information.
Modifications to the HH-60W include a digital radar warning receiver; laser, missile, hostile fire warning; integrated chaff and flares; cabin and cockpit armor; externally mounted 7.62 mm and .50 caliber weapons; LINK 16 military tactical data link network; Situational Awareness Data Link; integrated cockpit and cabin displays; advanced communications; Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast; tactical moving map displays; upturned IR-masking exhausts; and efficient wide-chord rotor blades.
Background: The HH-60W is a result of the development of the HH-60G “Pave Hawk” and built upon the existing and proven framework of the UH-60M “Black Hawk” production model. The HH-60W received its name as the “Jolly Green II” during a ceremony in February 2020, honoring the Jolly Green crews of previous generations who established the excellence and capability expected of the USAF combat rescue crews today.
The first units to receive and field the new aircraft were the 41st Rescue Squadron, Moody AFB, Georgia, and the 512th Rescue Squadron, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
Moody AFB was the first across the USAF to deploy the new HH-60W Jolly Green II for its first rescue mission by the 38th and 41st Rescue Squadrons, Sept. 7, 2022.
General Characteristics
Primary function: Rotary-wing Combat Search and Rescue platform
Contractor: Lockheed Martin Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Rotor Diameter: 53.6 feet (16.34 meters)
Length: 64.7 feet (19.72 meters)
Height: 16.7 feet (5.1 meters)
Operating Weight: 22,500 pounds (10,205.83 kilograms)
Speed: 176 mph/153 knots indicated air speed at sea level
Range: 690 miles (599 nautical miles); air refuelable
Ceiling: 20,000 feet (6,096 meters)
Armament: Two 7.62 mm miniguns or two .50-caliber machine guns
First Flight: May 17, 2019
Initial operating capability: 2022