An HH-60W Jolly Green II assigned to the 33rd Rescue Squadron arrives at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Jan. 26, 2024. (Jonathan Sifuentes/U.S. Air Force)
A shipment of HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters recently arrived on Okinawa as the Air Force continues to replace its 40-year-old fleet of HH-60G Pave Hawks.
Like its predecessor, the Jolly Green II is built upon the UH-60M Black Hawk framework. The undisclosed number of new aircraft arrived Jan. 26 at Kadena Air Base, a fighter and transport hub in Japan’s southernmost island chain, according to an Air Force news release Monday.
The helicopters come with avionics upgrades and multifunctional displays, Senior Airman Anthony Canlas, 718th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron HH-60 dedicated crew chief, said in the release.
Service members offload two HH-60W Jolly Green IIs at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Jan. 26, 2024. (Jonathan Sifuentes/U.S. Air Force)
“These models are the new standard for combat search and rescue operations for [Pacific Air Forces] and nationwide,” Master Sgt. Bryan Donnelly, 718th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 33rd Helicopter Maintenance Unit production superintendent, said in the release.
The Air Force initially declared the Jolly Green II operational in October 2022, according to Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor that builds the helicopter through its Sikorsky division. The Air Force acquisition program calls for 113 Jolly Green IIs, with 60 due by the end of 2023, according to Lockheed.
The helicopters are slated to assume the Pave Hawk’s role in personnel recovery missions in isolated hostile territory as well as humanitarian missions, the release said.
The Air Force began phasing out the Pave Hawks in 2022, and the Jolly Green II conducted its first rescue mission in September that year when one was dispatched to fly a patient from Valdosta, Ga., to Tampa, Fla., according to the Air Force website.
The name Jolly Green II was chosen to honor the crews that operated the Sikorsky HH-3E, nicknamed the “Jolly Green Giant” due to its size and color, which set the precedent for current Air Force combat rescue crews, according to the release.
