In Japan, a US squadron's future in limbo with Air Force plans to cut MH-139 buy - Breaking...

The lone UH-1N Huey helicopter squadron in the Indo-Pacific is facing an unknown future after the US Air Force halved its planned acquisition of the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in fiscal 2025.
The 459th Airlift Squadron located at Yokota Air Base plays an unglamourous but important role in the Asia-Pacific, using the Vietnam-era Huey helicopter as well as white-tailed C-12 cargo planes to transport VIPs across Japan and to shuttle patients to US-owned military hospitals.
But after the Air Force reduced its planned MH-139A program of record from 80 to 42 helicopters, the squadron is left without an eventual replacement for the UH-1N and current plans only fund the 459th’s Hueys through fiscal 2026, said Lt. Col. Samuel Shamburg, the squadron’s commander.