The MH-139A, slated to switch the older UH-1N Hueys within the nuclear safety mission, lately performed its first search and rescue mission.
Boeing introduced on Oct. 8, 2025 a brand new $173 million contract from the U.S. Air Power to supply eight extra MH-139A Gray Wolf helicopters, elevating the entire variety of plane underneath contract to 34. The press launch stated the award is concurrent with the Air Power finishing the helicopter’s IOT&E (Preliminary Operational Take a look at and Analysis) and shifting in the direction of IOC (Preliminary Operational Functionality).
Malmstrom AFB, Montana, residence to the 550th Helicopter Squadron (550th HS) acquired the primary LRIP (Low-Charge Preliminary Manufacturing) Gray Wolfs on Aug. 5, 2024, and accomplished on Might 30, 2025, the helicopter’s IOT&E.
The MH-139A is supposed to switch the older UH-1N Hueys that are assigned the nuclear safety mission. This consists of patrolling nuclear bases and underground launch silos internet hosting the Minuteman III ICBM and, sooner or later, the LGM-35 Sentinel ICBM.
Boeing stated it has up to now delivered 18 plane, and “anticipates delivering 4 extra plane to the Air Power this yr,” the corporate added. Out of those helicopters, 12 have been a part of the 2023 $285 million LRIP contract and have been delivered to Malmstrom AFB.
This primary contract was adopted in April 2024 by a $178 million award for seven extra Gray Wolfs, which included the “first set of plane anticipated for deployment to Minot Air Power Base (AFB), North Dakota.”
Thanks, @USAirForce, for ordering eight further MH-139A Gray Wolf helicopters.
Along with @LDO_Helicopters, we’re excited to ship the 34 whole plane now underneath contract, together with the primary #MH139 helicopters for Minot Air Power Base.
Extra: pic.twitter.com/ZP4GAvofCi
— Boeing Protection (@BoeingDefense) October 8, 2025
Inching in the direction of IOC
A caption for Malmstrom AFB’s closing IOT&E of the MH-139A Gray Wolf stated it marked “the final main hurdle earlier than the plane will be authorised for full-rate manufacturing and operational deployment by the U.S. Air Power.”
Notably, an MH-139A Gray Wolf of the fortieth HS at Malmstrom AFB was additionally lately concerned in its first actual life search and rescue mission, rescuing a misplaced hiker upon request by civil authority, as introduced by the 341st Missile Wing on Sep. 22. The mission occurred on the intervening evening of Aug. 25-26.
The MH-139A Gray Wolf is a variant of the AW139M, itself the militarized model of Leonardo’s AW139 business helicopter. Leonardo produces the baseline helicopter at its facility in northeast Philadelphia, with Boeing modifying and outfitting the plane. Boeing’s MH-139 program director Azeem Khan stated it “affords elevated pace, vary and payload capability essential to supporting U.S. nationwide safety missions.”
First rescue
The press launch concerning the Aug. 25-26 rescue with the fortieth HS’ MH-139A Gray Wolf stated it concerned “finding and rendering support to a misplaced hiker.” The crew, consisting of Capt. Jacques Soto (pilot), Capt. Jaani Barclay (co-pilot), Employees Sgt. Chase Rose and Senior Airman Corbin Dietrich (flight engineers), and Maj. Collin Urbanowicz (341st Operational Medical Squadron aeromedical doctor assistant), spent 8.2 hours over three sorties for “finding and stabilizing a stranded hiker.”
Upon request by the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Workplace on Aug. 25, throughout an “ongoing multi-agency seek for a 73-year-old hiker final seen on Aug. 21,” the crew was “reassigned from a scheduled evening coaching mission and the plane was rapidly reconfigured for the Search and Rescue.” The MH-139A took off from Malmstrom AFB with a Stokes litter, medical kits and survival baggage, at 5:35 pm with the callsign Air Power Rescue 012, and arrived on the Stillwater Plateau search space above Nye, Montana, at roughly 6:50 p.m.
“Upon arrival, the crew picked up the sheriff and circled the […] search space,” wanting via the Beartooth Vary that presents a difficult panorama of peaks, glacier lakes, and canyons, making night-time SAR troublesome. Earlier efforts by a civilian helicopter and a Montana Nationwide Guard UH-60 Blackhawk from Billings, Montana, have been in useless.
Capt. Soto stated they employed their evening imaginative and prescient and FLIR (Ahead Trying Infrared) optical sensors. After refueling at Large Timber and calibrating their evening imaginative and prescient goggles, Rescue 012 resumed the search on a moonless evening.
“Noting the final recognized campsite’s location at 9,000 toes close to glacier lakes […] the crew and flight medic reasoned {that a} weakened hiker would possibly comply with the terrain in the hunt for water,” recounted the press launch. “Including his experience within the space, Employees Sgt. Rose steered looking out a particular creek valley.” That is after they noticed a light-weight flashing.
Capt. Barclay noticed the synthetic mild supply because the plane turned towards the lakes. The helicopter flew down a canyon framed by 11,000-foot mountains, and at last discovered a person waving his arms on the FLIR, “about four-and-a-half miles out virtually,” Rose stated. The crew nonetheless determined to behave regardless of being not sure if it was the misplaced hiker.
.@malmstromafb aircrews underwent coaching to familiarize themselves with the MH-139A Greywolf, the substitute for our fleet of UH-1N Huey helicopters.@AFGlobalStrike pic.twitter.com/toORtm9G7a
— U.S. Air Power (@usairforce) June 9, 2024
The person was signaling from a slope in a dead-end canyon, surrounded by 1,000-foot rock partitions. The marshy website on the bottom was unsuitable for touchdown.
Apart from the terrain, the helicopter additionally had extra gasoline for the altitude, complicating the touchdown scenario. After circling and some touchdown makes an attempt disrupted by winds, Urbanowicz was lowered by way of a hoist to stabilize the person with reduction support.
The MH-139A left to refuel, whereas additionally confirming it was the lacking man. A Nationwide Guard UH-60 from Helena, Mont., extracted Urbanowicz and the hiker at dawn and transported them to Columbus, Mont., bringing the mission to an in depth.
Different workouts
From Mar. 30 to Apr. 18, 2025, the service put the MH-139A Gray Wolf via its first Nuclear Convoy Course (NCC), on the Camp Guernsey Joint Coaching Heart in Wyoming.
Previous to that, a week-long IOT&E occasion from Jan. 28, 2025 at Malmstrom AFB in Montana, one of many bases which hosts Minuteman silos, concerned two Hueys from the fortieth HS and two MH-139A Gray Wolfs from the 550th HS assessing the brand new helicopter’s “operational effectiveness, suitability and survivability in a sensible and operational setting.”
See the @USAirForce‘s latest helicopter in its factor. 🐺
The #MH139 Gray Wolf lately accomplished its first Nuclear Convoy Course, demonstrating speedy response and monitoring capabilities in a simulated risk setting.
Extra:
📸: U.S. Air Power… pic.twitter.com/lqr3UgML19
— Boeing Protection (@BoeingDefense) Might 21, 2025
This was adopted by one other IOT&E train on Feb. 21, 2025, when a Gray Wolf from the 550th HS at Malmstrom AFB, “executed a number of flyovers in the course of the train earlier than touchdown at a safe distance to deploy 341st Missile Safety Operations Squadron’s TRF Airmen.”
