The VH-71 Kestrel helicopter, a variant of the AgustaWestland EH101, is currently being developed to replace the United States Marine Corps’ Marine One Presidential transport fleet. The first two US Navy-owned test helicopters, TV-2 and TV-5, arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland at the end of last year. They have now entered the flight test phase with the USMC and USN.

TV-2 and TV-5 are the first of four test aircraft built for the initial phase of the VH-71 program known as Increment One. The government and industry integrated test team will utilize them for structural and propulsion testing and pilot training.

Two more helicopters, TV-3 and TV-4, will undergo additional assembly and missionization at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration before being transferred to NAS Patuxent River this year. They will be used to test the avionics and mission systems. TV-1 has been in flight test since shortly after the contract award and has logged 555 flight hours at present.

All Increment One aircraft will be delivered to NAS Patuxent River over the next 11 months, including the initial fleet of five presidential helicopters.