Jolly Green IIs are gradually arriving at Kadena's ZZ Wing
On 26 January 2024, the first two Lockheed Martin (Sikorsky) HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters arrived at Kadena Air Base (Japan) to be operated by the resident 33rd Rescue Squadron 'Jolly Green Giants'.
Devoid of any markings, the relatively new Jolly Green IIs, 21-14513 and 21-14517, arrived being airfreighted by a C-17A Globemaster III. Being managed and brought by the 55th Rescue Generation Squadron, the maintenance unit alongside the Davis-Monthan AFB (AZ) based 55th Rescue Squadron, the helicopters arrived at Kadena to become the second oversees based HH-60W squadron.
Earlier, Scramble Magazine wrote about the permanently deployed Jolly Green II to Djibouti in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HoA).
The HH-60W is the successor to the obsolete HH-60G Pave Hawk, which is gradually being phased out, and built on the established framework of the US Army UH-60M Black Hawk production model. Alternatively known as the 'Whiskey' model, the Jolly Green II is designed from the ground up with integrated mission systems that improve Situational Awareness (SA) for aircrews conducting Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) missions in contested environments.
Now being inducted by the 33rd Rescue Squadron, part of Kadena’s 18th Wing, USAF's HH-60W is intended for a variety of mission critical operations to include recovering ISOlated Personnel (ISOP) from hostile or denied territory, day or night, in adverse weather, and in a variety of threat environments from terrorist to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
Its capabilities also include humanitarian missions, civil Search And Rescue (SAR), disaster relief, medical evacuation, and non-combatant evacuations.
Since all HH-60G models will be replaced at Kadena, it won't be long before the legendary ZZ code will be applied on the tail.
Credit photos: USAF