Two US Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters recovered five US Navy personnel from mountainous terrain near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, on August 10, 2026, after their MH-60S Seahawk made a hard landing during a high-altitude training flight.
The 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron (88 TES) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, was notified by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at approximately 11:30 local time. The squadron recalled its crews, coordinated with the Navy unit involved, and tasked the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (355 AMXS) with generating the aircraft.
The 355 AMXS was on a scheduled training day when the tasking arrived. It had two HH-60Ws ready in under 30 minutes.
Circuit breaker fault nearly grounds rescue helicopter
One of the two helicopters was at risk of being grounded by a recurring circuit breaker trip, with no spare part on hand.
“We diagnosed the master caution warning press-to-reset button as what was causing the circuit breaker to pop and provided aircrew with a workaround to keep the system operational and allow on-time takeoff,” said Staff Sergeant Cody Adams, a 355 AMXS avionics craftsman, in the Air Combat Command release.
The helicopters departed Nellis at 13:00 local time. Crews established two-way radio contact with the Navy personnel and identified them visually at 15:00.
Five US Navy personnel extracted without injury
A pararescue team reached the landing zone and found no injuries. The team then had the helicopters reposition to a closer landing area rather than move the stranded Navy crew on foot.
All five were extracted by 15:50 and delivered to their squadron’s ramp at China Lake. The HH-60Ws returned to Nellis.
A purpose-built rescue variant of the Black Hawk
The HH-60W is derived from the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk but built for combat rescue from the outset. It sports an in-flight refueling probe and an enlarged main fuel tank providing 480 nautical miles of unrefueled range, a 600-pound hoist with 250 feet of cable, and a personnel locating system that works with survival radios.
The type also carries missile, radar, and laser warning receivers tied to an automatic chaff and flare dispenser, and two crew-served 7.62mm or .50 caliber machine guns. That equipment is intended for recovering isolated personnel under fire, as the type did over Iran in April 2026.