UH-1N Huey replacement delays free up funds in USAF reprogramming request 

Delays in procuring the MH-139A Grey Wolf have freed some $194 million the Air Force intended to use to buy eight of the helicopters in fiscal year 2021, the Pentagon's omnibus reprogramming request shows.

The funding shift is part of a larger $4.4 billion request sent to Congress last month, and it follows the Air Force's fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, which zeroed out procurement funding for the UH-1N replacement effort due to certification delays.

Originally expected to reach milestone C later this fiscal year, the program's timeline has been pushed back to the first quarter of FY-23, thus making the money previously designated for it available, per the reprogramming.

Slowing down the Grey Wolf's procurement process is the time it's taking for the aircraft's certifications to win Federal Aviation Administration approval. The supplemental-type certifications, needed to get a military flight release from the Defense Department, are now expected to be issued in late FY-21 and across the following fiscal year, Inside Defense previously reported.