US Customs will use a helicopter to replace solar equipment on Mohawk Mountain

The battery bank that supplies power to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) owned Tactical Communication site at Mohawk Mountain in Mohawk, Ariz., is beginning to show signs of failure. To avoid a complete site failure, CBP’s Office of Information Technology along with other agencies working with CBP are planning to replace the solar equipment.

Mohawk Mountain is in a remote location that requires helicopter transport for access by personnel and delivery of all materials, supplies, tools and equipment. Given the nature of the allowable work space and approved location for installations, the site has no additional staging area to support concurrent delivery of removals and installations. All deliveries are anticipated to be completed by single point lifts using a single hook up and single set down as no release or drop lifts are anticipated.

CBP is looking for a contractor to supply a helicopter to lift tools, equipment, and personnel up to the remote site that is located at Mohawk Mountain (Latitude 32.5900, Longitude - 113.6479). All lifts will be from a predetermined staging area or forward operating base (FOB) that will be used as the meet up location for transportation to and from the remote site and as the hook up location for all loads. The FOB is anticipated to be located at the following location: Marker Beacon 35 (Latitude: 32.605222, Longitude: ---113.773417). The FOB is accessed via a dirt road from Interstate 8. The contractor’s fuel truck is expected to park daily at FOB for refueling. Should the FOB change, it is anticipated that the location will not vary more than five miles away from the predetermined location. Local air restrictions may apply and will be the responsibility of the contractor to become familiar with local air restrictions and potential no fly zones/times. The contractor should note the site is mountainous where topography and winds can be highly variable an may impact approach vectors.

CBP will coordinate pre-clearance through the Barry M. Goldwater Range restricted airspace R-2301 and will inform contractor of any special transit procedures.

Multiple airlifts, of different payloads, will be required throughout the duration of the project to transport removals and installations to the remote site. The anticipated flight schedule is presumed to be four personnel flights (i.e. two in and two out) plus three to five flights for tools and equipment per day during Site Prep Activities and Site Clean Up activities.

The Period of Performance under the contract is anticipated to be a total of 32 days to complete all required meetings and performance objectives for helicopter lift services. The anticipated start date of helicopter lift services is Oct. 28.

US Customs and Border Protection purchase two King Air 350CER aircraft

Textron Aviation Inc. was awarded a contract for two additional Beechcraft King Air 350CER turboprop aircraft for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations. After mission modifications by Sierra Nevada Corp., these two Multi-role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) aircraft will join a fleet of 23 other King Air 350 aircraft used to safeguard the United States homeland as part of the coordinated application of CBP’s aviation and maritime law enforcement resources.

"These aircraft can fly six-hour missions and can deploy to hot spots where multi-sensor patrols assist both ground and marine agents to detect, interdict and prevent acts of terrorism as well as the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs and other contraband toward or across the borders of the United States,” said Bob Gibbs, vice president, Special Mission Sales.

The CBP MEA is equipped with a sophisticated array of active and passive sensors, technical collection equipment and satellite communications capabilities that can be deployed for ground interdiction operations, air-to-air intercept operations and medium-range maritime patrols. The aircraft is operated by a crew of four, including two highly trained sensor operators who employ the mission equipment and coordinate the information flow to the ground.

The Beechcraft King Air 350CER aircraft is an extended range version of the King Air 350i twin-engine turboprop aircraft configured with an optional cargo door, resulting in enhanced mission flexibility.  Two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-60A or optional factory installed PT6A-67A turboprop engines with Hartzell four blade propellers power the King Air 350CER aircraft, and a fully integrated Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion digital avionics suite provides pilot(s) with state-of-the-art touchscreen controls.