The U.S. Air Force has ordered four more MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters, the first under full-rate production, Boeing said Thursday, just weeks after the service declared the aircraft ready for its nuclear missile security mission.
The announcement comes during a busy week for Boeing. On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy selected the company to build its F/A-XX sixth-generation carrier-based fighter under a development contract worth more than $20 billion. The same day, the Air Force signed a $2.38 billion order for 22 more F-15EX Eagle II fighters.
The Grey Wolf contract, worth roughly $85 million and including some sustainment work, was awarded Sept. 25, a Boeing spokesperson told Defense News. The company expects to deliver the four helicopters in 2028 or 2029.
The order brings the total number under contract to 42, with 27 already delivered. Six of the earlier helicopters were test aircraft, and the rest came from production lots ordered before this first full-rate lot.
“This milestone validates key readiness levels for Grey Wolf and supports the service’s fielding plans to secure vital national assets across the country’s strategic missile fields,” Kathleen Jolivette, vice president and general manager of Vertical Lift Programs at Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in the company release.
Air Force Global Strike Command announced Aug. 31 that the Grey Wolf reached initial operational capability, or IOC, Aug. 10, meaning the first crews and helicopters are cleared to fly real-world missions.
The IOC declaration allows the Grey Wolf to begin taking over intercontinental ballistic missile security from the aging UH-1N Huey, which it will replace at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana; F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming; and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.
The MH-139A is a militarized version of Leonardo’s commercial AW139. Global Strike Command says it is nearly 50% faster than the Huey, carries twice as many troops and has improved defensive systems.
Two helicopters from the 40th Helicopter Squadron flew the Grey Wolf’s first operational mission Jan. 8 at Malmstrom. During the six-hour mission, they escorted missile maintenance and armored security vehicles to and from a launch facility more than 100 miles east of the base without refueling.
“For more than half a century, the UH-1N Huey has been a key element of our Intercontinental Ballistic Missile security, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the crews who flew and maintained it over all these years,” said Gen. S.L. Davis, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. “Securing these missiles demands our best efforts and the MH-139 will significantly improve our capabilities.”
IOC comes years late. The Air Force picked Boeing for the $2.4 billion Huey replacement contract in September 2018, and officials expected to reach the milestone in 2021. Testing delays, FAA certification setbacks and integration problems stretched the timeline, Military Times reported in January.
The program has shrunk over the years. The Air Force once planned to buy as many as 84 Grey Wolves, with some intended to shuttle officials around Washington. To meet spending caps in the 2023 debt-ceiling deal, the Air Force dropped that VIP mission in its fiscal 2025 budget and cut the buy to 42.
With fewer helicopters sharing the program’s costs, the unit cost rose past the critical threshold under the Nunn-McCurdy law, which forces the Pentagon to justify or cancel programs whose unit costs climb too high. The Pentagon later raised the buy to at least 56, bringing the price back under the critical threshold, according to a Selected Acquisition Report released in late August 2024.
For fiscal 2027, the Air Force asked for four more. The House-passed defense policy bill and the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version would allow eight, double the request, but neither has become law. The House appropriators’ spending bill, which actually provides the money, covers only four.
HH-60W combat rescue helicopters will take over the VIP mission instead of Grey Wolves, replacing Hueys that the Air Force says lack the speed, range and lift to provide cost-effective support.
Michael Scanlon is a defense journalist covering air and space warfare. A former U.S. Air Force A-10 crew chief, he has supported land and sea programs for the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.