Kaman Aerospace announced on Friday that it will restart production of the K-Max K-1200 heavy external lift helicopter. The K-Max was certified in 1994 and the production line was shuttered in 2003 after 38 were built. The helicopter can lift up to 6,000 pounds externally and is powered by a single Honeywell T53-17 turboshaft flat rated to 1,500 shp (takeoff).
An initial new production run of 10 is expected, with first deliveries in early 2017. Kaman estimates unit price at $7.5- to $8.5 million. Relaunch customers include Rotex Helicopter of Switzerland and Helicopter Express of Chamblee, Ga. The helicopters will be manufactured at Kaman’s facilities in Jacksonville, Fla., and Bloomfield, Conn.
Two autonomously piloted K-Max flew for the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan between 2011 and 2014, delivering 4.5 million pounds of cargo. Lockheed Martin and Kaman successfully tested an unmanned K-Max for firefighting operations in November. In one hour, the unmanned K-Max lifted and dropped more than 24,000 pounds of water onto the target fire. In March, an unmanned K-Max successfully flew a mock medevac mission. Civil versions of the manned aircraft have long been used in construction, firefighting and logging applications.