Rotor Torque

The US Army meanwhile has announced plans to greatly slow RAH-66 production rates early in the next century to save costs and cut risks. In the period FY2001 to FY2005, the Army will procure just 153 Comanches, instead of the currently planned 408. Total procurement plans for 1292 aircraft remain unchanged however. The new plan will see three Comanches built in FY2000, eight in FY2001, 10 in FY2002, 12 in FY2003, 48 in FY2004 and 72 in FY2005. The peak production rate of 120 per year would be achieved sometime after that. Initial operating capability will be achieved in 2003. The plan has yet to be approved by senior Department of Defense acquisition officials. In other Comanche news the partially constructed forward fuselage of the prototype has been moved to a new manufacturing point. The forward fuselage is currently being worked on at Sikorsky’s Stratford plant and is now due to be fitted with landing gear and weapons bay doors, and maintenance access panels. From there it will be moved to Sikorsky’s main manufacturing plant, also in Stratford. Here it will be mated with the rear fuselage, which is currently under construction with Boeing in Philadelphia.

Uk Offered Nh 90

British Army senior officers have been briefed on the NH 90 battlefield support helicopter as a possible long term replacement for the Lynx and Puma helicopters. NH Industries is quite keen to boost its planned production run via sales to the UK, and while any such proposal is a long way off from being realised, NH says it would tailor the NH 90 to meet specific British needs. Such a sale could also be tied with Eurocopter, the leading member of the NH consortium bid to sell Tiger helicopters to meet the British Army’s attack helo requirement.

Boeing Uav Selected

Boeing’s tail sitting Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been selected by the US Department of Defense’s UAV Joint Programme Office for demonstration trials. The Vertical Launch and Recovery UAV programme attracted as many as nine bids, with the favoured coming from Bell, who offered the tilt rotor Eagle Eye UAV. Bell has already demonstrated Eagle Eye to a fairly high level, and funding constraints may have acted against its selection, the office perhaps feeling that the concept has already been demonstrated to a high standard. Boeing Helicopter’s 375kg (827lb) MTOW tailsitting Heliwing features two counter rotating propellers powered by a Williams International WTS-117 turbine of 40shp (30kW) output and has a fixed wing. The Heliwing takes off and lands as a helicopter, but after takeoff it pitches over into a horizontal attitude for forward flight. Thus far Boeing has built one full size Heliwing, which was due to undergo wind tunnel testing last month.

Slovenian Military Buys Bells

Slovenia has become the first Eastern European nation to order US military aircraft, having recently purchased seven Bell helicopters. The countertrade deal involves five Bell 412EPs and two 206B-3 JetRangers for the Slovenian Territorial Forces, the first of which will be delivered from this month. The 412s will be used for border patrols, the 206Bs for training. Payment for the helos will be in the form of buses, chemicals and crystal products.

Apache Updates Update

For the first time an AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helo has launched a fire and forget Hellfire anti-tank missile. The Hellfire was launched at a T-72 Main Battle Tank target from a distance of 4.2km after a single scan from the Apache’s Longbow radar. At present, the current AH-64A relies on laser designation for weapons guidance for most anti-armour missions. The first production AH-64D Longbow Apache conversion is due to be delivered in 1997. The Longbow upgrade revolves around a millimetre wave radar, which allows far greater weapons launching autonomy.

Westland meanwhile is holding talks with McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems over participating in a possible future Apache upgrade programme. Such an upgrade would involve increasing the Apache’s engine power, with the Westland component of the work focusing on a new powertrain and gearbox, and possibly composite rotor blade and head technology. Other UK manufacturers could participate in the updated Apache programme, dubbed the WAH-64, in areas such as defensive aids sub systems, powerplants and weapon systems. Westland could be awarded the work as part of an offsets deal if McDonnell Douglas Helicopters, which is teamed with Westland and Shorts, is successful in its bid to win the British Army’s attack helicopter order. Some 40% of the update work could be carried out in the UK, the work being in addition to the already budgeted for Longbow Apache programme.

Briefs

The Queensland Coast and Torres Strait Pilots Association has purchased a Bell 222UT to transfer marine pilots to and from ships navigating Hydrographers Passage, which accesses coal terminals at Hay Point, Dalrymple Bay and Abbot Point. It will be operated by Reef Helicopters in Mackay.

Concerns have been raised over the Royal Air Force’s use of VIP flights for training. This follows the crash of a Boeing Chinook in the north of Scotland in which 25 crew and high ranking military and security officials died. The cause of the crash is not known, nor has the RAF revealed if the flight was being used for training.