MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. - Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 will test Soviet-era technology being evaluated by Naval Air Systems Command during their deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom II this spring.

The compressor blades on the T-64 engine used on the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter have experienced dramatically shortened life spans due to erosion, especially in desert conditions experienced during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The metal blade is moving at such a speed that even sand can eat a rotor away," said Gunnery Sgt. Joseph A. Gearhart, maintenance control chief, HMH-466.     

"The sand affected everything. Once you get sand into a bearing it doesn't take long to go bad. There is nothing you can really do about it except make sure you have enough parts in supply," added Gearhart.

A search for help to fix the problem led Naval Air Systems Command to technology used in the Soviet-era Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter.

"The Russians had the same experience in Afghanistan that we did in (Southwest Asia) with engines," said Greg Kilchenstien, a former NAVAIR Propulsion and Power Systems engineer and member of the integrated product team evaluating the new coating process. "They were scrapping about 80 percent of their rotor blades. This coating technology helped them reduce that rate to about three percent."

For the last few years NAVAIR has been evaluating the process the Russians use to coat turbine engine compressor blades with a thin layer of titanium nitride that extend the blades' life span and improve performance, said Gearhart.

One T-64 engine built with the new technology was delivered by NAVAIR in Patuxent River, Md., and installed recently by HMH-466 Marines as they prepare to leave for Iraq, said Gearhart.

"What this is going to do for us is to cut back on man hours," Gearhart said. "We are trying to make things better on maintenance. The T-64 is finally getting the recognition it deserves."  

Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 462 was fitted with the new technology when they deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom last spring and discovered the blades lasted three times as long as those that did not have the coating, according to Sgt. John A. Gutierrez, assistant noncommissioned officer-in-charge, power plants T-64 section, Marine Aircraft Logistics Squadron 16.

The blades used in that engine have since been replaced and will be sent to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., for further evaluation of the damage caused by the harsh environment.

"These engines can fly up to 2,000 hours under normal conditions, but in this type of environment the engines without the coating only lasted 100 hours," said Gutierrez, a Los Angeles native. "If you get a piece of pebble in there, it will start chipping off the metal and slowly eat away the blades. It's a domino effect all the way down."

Gutierrez said maintenance and casing  the blades is the most time consuming item in the whole engine because each blade has to be inserted individually and measured for proper clearances, weighed, balanced and placed back into the engine. He said the whole process could take up to a week.

Gearhart said the squadron learned a lot from operations conducted during OIF and has made adjustments to their maintenance to help minimize any future problems that may occur.

"We are not going in blind. We are at least educated to how the T-64 reacts to sand," Gearhart said.

"We are doing everything we can to make sure they stay in the Wing as long as possible so that there is no choke point on the supply end," he added.

The coating process was developed by the Ural Works of Civil Aviation, or PRAD by its Russian initials, in Ekaterinburg, Russia, according to Chris Georgiou, a NAVAIR aerospace engineer responsible for advanced propulsion programs. It has been successfully protecting TV2 and TV3 engines used in the Mi-24 and Mi-48 helicopters, as well as most of the Russian military fleet.

A sales visit by the Montreal-based MDS Aero Support Corporation led to the Canadian engineers asking about the gold-colored turbine blades from the helicopter engines being rebuilt at the PRAD plant. That resulted in the creation of the joint Russian-Canadian venture, MDSPRAD Technologies Corporation, to market the process.

Naval Air Systems Command provides advanced warfare technologies through the efforts of a seamless, integrated worldwide network of aviation technology experts.

The command provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter who is securing the safety of U.S. citizens through the development of aircraft and weapons for the Navy and Marine Corps, according the NAVAIR Web site.