While the Navy maintains the CH-53K program is on schedule, a key Pentagon office says the heavy-lift helicopter won't be ready to deploy until a full year after the service's planned timing. The CH-53K program will not reach initial operational capability -- the point at which a new weapon system is approved to deploy -- until December 2020, according to a recent "milestone C" report from the director of the Pentagon's cost assessment and program evaluation (CAPE) office sent to...
