Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery will Become the Main Training Hub for the Boeing MH-139A ‘Grey Wolf’ in Mission Change
Maxwell Air Force Base has an exciting new assignment coming as it will be the training hub for Boeing’s MH-139A “Grey Wolf” helicopter.
Four new and powerful MH-139A “Grey Wolf“ helicopters are touring the country, visiting selected Air Force Bases and generating a lot of excitement for the latest technology that is set to replace the Vietnam-era Bell UH-1N Huey helicopters.
With the excitement comes news for those at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
AirForceTimes reported that the Air Force Reserve’s 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell Air Force Base “will become the main hub for training pilots to fly the new MH-139 Grey Wolf.”
The 908th Airlift Wing has been known for the past 40 years for taking the C-130 Hercules into combat. The 908th switched to models of the C-130 Hercules starting in 1983. (Source: Air Force Times)
Colonel Craig Drescher spoke to Air Force Times about this new and challenging mission.
He said:
“It’s the hardest, most complicated, multifaceted [mission change] the Air Force has ever taken on.
Not only is it hard to go from a fixed-wing, combat-coded unit to a rotary-wing formal training unit, but we’re talking about an airframe that hasn’t even come off the factory floor yet,” Drescher said. “We don’t have anything stood up. We’re having to create everything as we go.” Col. Craig Drescher, Air Force (Source: Air Force Times)
Drescher explained to Air Force Times, “the airlift wing needed to get rid of its increasingly unreliable Hercs, and the Air Force needed a place to train MH-139 aircrews. So, military planners seized the opportunity to “accelerate change or lose.” (Source: Air Force Times)
With this new mission, Maxwell AFB is expected to eventually get 10 MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters. According to Col. Drescher, Maxwell AFB is not expected to have any trained instructors until January 2024, and is not expected to bring in students until late 2026. (Source: Air Force Times)
