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Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

Whats the story on Sierra flying with ESSS with nothing loaded. Is this just a convenience and mission flex in case a payload/ordinance is needed later?

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IKE said:
Also, I'm rusty on the details, but I think the Sierra "wings" are not identical to the Army ESSS. ESSS has two hard points. MH-60S is called EWSS (IIRC), and has only one hard point.
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Good stuff - great explanations and new knowledge!
 
phrogdriver said:
Are you familiar with the dyfunctional drama factory that is MD Helicopters?

It can certainly be a big lift. That place has been a clown show for the past decade or more.
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I know Boeing is the Prime for AH-6 and MH-6 - i assume MD Helicopters actually does the airframe production and have been living off the generous production and sustainment contract.

I guess the question would be is that enough to keep MD alive until they can get a product to market and compete based on the merits of their helicopters - there is definitely a niche of commercial operators that believe nothing else can do the job.
 
ChuckMK23 said:
I know Boeing is the Prime for AH-6 and MH-6 - i assume MD Helicopters actually does the airframe production and have been living off the generous production and sustainment contract.

I guess the question would be is that enough to keep MD alive until they can get a product to market and compete based on the merits of their helicopters - there is definitely a niche of commercial operators that believe nothing else can do the job.
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I don't believe they do. Boeing sold the IP some years back and the two models diverged.

MD actually stopped building helicopters altogether last year and has been trying to find something worth restarting their line for.

They are consistently the most unreliable and flakiest firm in the business. Lynn Tilton wrecked that place.
 
phrogdriver said:
I don't believe they do. Boeing sold the IP some years back and the two models diverged.

MD actually stopped building helicopters altogether last year and has been trying to find something worth restarting their line for.

They are consistently the most unreliable and flakiest firm in the business. Lynn Tilton wrecked that place.
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This I did not know. I know they have been releasing STCs to convert D models to E and so on.
 
phrogdriver said:
I don't believe they do. Boeing sold the IP some years back and the two models diverged.

MD actually stopped building helicopters altogether last year and has been trying to find something worth restarting their line for.

They are consistently the most unreliable and flakiest firm in the business. Lynn Tilton wrecked that place.
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As II recall my buddies at MD said that they do build the airframe for the little bird and then send it across the street to Boeing.

Comment on Tilton and business performance is accurate. Customer support including parts availability has been legendary bad.
 
Artisanal helicopter building is a tough business. There's a ton of overhead and regulatory compliance necessary to build aircraft, and if you don't do significant volume, per unit cost goes way up, and unless your capability is indispensible, people go elsewhere.

Kaman stopped building KMax altogether. Great external load machine, but <10 AC a year wasn't keeping the lights on, and they've decided to focus on component manufacturing. They even sold the Kargo UAS to Piasecki.
 
I have to say, I love the term “artisanal helicopter.” I may have to plagiarize that in the future.
 
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