The MH-139A, slated to replace the older UH-1N Hueys in the nuclear security mission, recently conducted its first search and rescue mission.
Boeing announced on Oct. 8, 2025 a new $173 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce eight more MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters, raising the total number of aircraft under contract to 34. The press release said the award is concurrent with the Air Force completing the helicopter’s IOT&E (Initial Operational Test and Evaluation) and moving towards IOC (Initial Operational Capability).
Malmstrom AFB, Montana, home to the 550th Helicopter Squadron (550th HS) received the first LRIP (Low-Rate Initial Production) Grey Wolfs on Aug. 5, 2024, and completed on May 30, 2025, the helicopter’s IOT&E.
The MH-139A is meant to replace the older UH-1N Hueys which are assigned the nuclear security mission. This includes patrolling nuclear bases and underground launch silos hosting the Minuteman III ICBM and, in the future, the LGM-35 Sentinel ICBM.
Boeing said it has so far delivered 18 aircraft, and “anticipates delivering four more aircraft to the Air Force this year,” the company added. Out of these helicopters, 12 were part of the 2023 $285 million LRIP contract and were delivered to Malmstrom AFB.
This first contract was followed in April 2024 by a $178 million award for seven more Grey Wolfs, which included the “first set of aircraft anticipated for deployment to Minot Air Force Base (AFB), North Dakota.”
Thank you, @USAirForce, for ordering eight additional MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters.
Together with @LDO_Helicopters, we’re excited to deliver the 34 total aircraft now under contract, including the first #MH139 helicopters for Minot Air Force Base.
More: https://t.co/BcsVXNj16F pic.twitter.com/ZP4GAvofCi
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) October 8, 2025
Inching towards IOC
A caption for Malmstrom AFB’s final IOT&E of the MH-139A Grey Wolf said it marked “the last major hurdle before the aircraft can be approved for full-rate production and operational deployment by the U.S. Air Force.”
Notably, an MH-139A Grey Wolf of the 40th HS at Malmstrom AFB was also recently involved in its first real life search and rescue mission, rescuing a lost hiker upon request by civil authority, as announced by the 341st Missile Wing on Sep. 22. The mission took place on the intervening night of Aug. 25-26.
The MH-139A Grey Wolf is a variant of the AW139M, itself the militarized version of Leonardo’s AW139 commercial helicopter. Leonardo produces the baseline helicopter at its facility in northeast Philadelphia, with Boeing modifying and outfitting the aircraft. Boeing’s MH-139 program director Azeem Khan said it “offers increased speed, range and payload capacity critical to supporting U.S. national security missions.”
First rescue
The press release about the Aug. 25-26 rescue with the 40th HS’ MH-139A Grey Wolf said it involved “locating and rendering aid to a lost hiker.” The crew, consisting of Capt. Jacques Soto (pilot), Capt. Jaani Barclay (co-pilot), Staff Sgt. Chase Rose and Senior Airman Corbin Dietrich (flight engineers), and Maj. Collin Urbanowicz (341st Operational Medical Squadron aeromedical physician assistant), spent 8.2 hours over three sorties for “locating and stabilizing a stranded hiker.”
Upon request by the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 25, during an “ongoing multi-agency search for a 73-year-old hiker last seen on Aug. 21,” the crew was “reassigned from a scheduled night training mission and the aircraft was quickly reconfigured for the Search and Rescue.” The MH-139A took off from Malmstrom AFB with a Stokes litter, medical kits and survival bags, at 5:35 pm with the callsign Air Force Rescue 012, and arrived at the Stillwater Plateau search area above Nye, Montana, at approximately 6:50 p.m.
“Upon arrival, the crew picked up the sheriff and circled the […] search area,” looking through the Beartooth Range that presents a challenging landscape of peaks, glacier lakes, and canyons, making night-time SAR difficult. Previous efforts by a civilian helicopter and a Montana National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk from Billings, Montana, were in vain.
Capt. Soto said they employed their night vision and FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) optical sensors. After refueling at Big Timber and calibrating their night vision goggles, Rescue 012 resumed the search on a moonless night.
“Noting the last known campsite’s location at 9,000 feet near glacier lakes […] the crew and flight medic reasoned that a weakened hiker might follow the terrain in search of water,” recounted the press release. “Adding his expertise in the area, Staff Sgt. Rose suggested searching a specific creek valley.” This is when they saw a light flashing.
Capt. Barclay spotted the artificial light source as the aircraft turned toward the lakes. The helicopter flew down a canyon framed by 11,000-foot mountains, and finally found a man waving his arms on the FLIR, “about four-and-a-half miles out almost,” Rose said. The crew still decided to act despite being unsure if it was the lost hiker.
.@malmstromafb aircrews underwent training to familiarize themselves with the MH-139A Greywolf, the replacement for our fleet of UH-1N Huey helicopters.@AFGlobalStrike pic.twitter.com/toORtm9G7a
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) June 9, 2024
The individual was signaling from a slope in a dead-end canyon, surrounded by 1,000-foot rock walls. The marshy site on the ground was unsuitable for landing.
Besides the terrain, the helicopter also had excess fuel for the altitude, complicating the landing situation. After circling and a few landing attempts disrupted by winds, Urbanowicz was lowered via a hoist to stabilize the man with relief aid.
The MH-139A left to refuel, while also confirming it was the missing man. A National Guard UH-60 from Helena, Mont., extracted Urbanowicz and the hiker at daybreak and transported them to Columbus, Mont., bringing the mission to a close.
Other exercises
From Mar. 30 to Apr. 18, 2025, the service put the MH-139A Grey Wolf through its first Nuclear Convoy Course (NCC), at the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Wyoming.
Prior to that, a week-long IOT&E event from Jan. 28, 2025 at Malmstrom AFB in Montana, one of the bases which hosts Minuteman silos, involved two Hueys from the 40th HS and two MH-139A Grey Wolfs from the 550th HS assessing the new helicopter’s “operational effectiveness, suitability and survivability in a realistic and operational environment.”
See the @USAirForce‘s newest helicopter in its element. 🐺
The #MH139 Grey Wolf recently completed its first Nuclear Convoy Course, demonstrating rapid response and monitoring capabilities in a simulated threat environment.
More: https://t.co/3gT0Q6RxD9
📸: U.S. Air Force… pic.twitter.com/lqr3UgML19
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) May 21, 2025
This was followed by another IOT&E exercise on Feb. 21, 2025, when a Grey Wolf from the 550th HS at Malmstrom AFB, “executed multiple flyovers during the exercise before landing at a secure distance to deploy 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron’s TRF Airmen.”
