So when did we retire the USN phrogs? Looks like they still could have been a useful unrep asset...no?
The last Navy Phrogs were retired sometime around 2005-06. They had been flown hard doing vertrep, PMC, and SAR for almost 40yrs and the airframes were at the end of their life. Towards the end of their service, the USN Phrog fleet was having an engine failure a week. Not exactly the kind of performance you want when you're flying with 4000lbs of bombs on the pendant at 100'.
The story of why we don't have 46Gs instead of 60Ss goes something like this:
At some point, Boeing asked the Navy if they were ever going to want more Phrogs. The Navy said "no". So, Boeing sold the plans, rights, and tooling to the Japanese. A few years later, the Navy realizes that the Phrog fleet is in need of an upgrade, so they ask Boeing what it would cost to get new Phrogs. Turns out the cost would be prohibitive since Boeing would have had to buy the rights back from the Japanese and then restart the line. At the same time, the Army had purchased new Blackhawks from Sikorsky expecting to expand their aviation capabilities. Shortly thereafter during the peace dividend, the Army found itself in a money crunch. It couldn't afford all the aviation expansion and the Comanche program. The Army decided to spend it's money on the Comanche and now had Blackhawks on the Sikorsky line that it couldn't afford to use. These Blackhawks happened to come on the market at the same time that the Navy was in desperate need of a replacement for the Phrog. So, the Blackhawks became MH-60S Knighthawks.