I think the Comanche was ahead of its time.
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Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
So far ahead that it was projected to suck up almost half the Army's aviation budget.
It was the right decision to kill it at the time. There was no threat to justify its existence.
The H-60 replacement is the greater priority. You can't be an Army without the ability to move your troops.
Isn't the primarily mission of Army Blackhawks to schlep people around? Glad there's no risk to the crews, but what about the guys in the back?Saw this in the news today:
Sikorsky flies its first unmanned Black Hawk helicopter; it can enter dangerous territory at no risk to crews
Sikorsky flies its first unmanned Black Hawk helicopter; it can enter dangerous territory at no risk to crews
Sikorsky Aircraft has flown its first unmanned Black Hawk helicopter that can enter dangerous air space without risking lives. The 30-minute flight Saturday over Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was the re…www.courant.com
Presumably that would be for cargo, not personnel
Do you expect the army to start caring for the ground-pounders now?
Ground pounders? Hell, they don't care about their aviators! It wouldn't surprise me if the Army fielded the pilot-less Black Hawk just so they wouldn't have to pay pilots or pay for their flight gear.
I don’t know about Big Army but I loved every flying “geardo” that landed whenever I stuck out my thumb for a ride!
I feel like the H-60 is the fit middle-aged dude running a sub-10 PRT, and most new helos are the dudes in their 20s with fancy hair and cool clothes who can't break 12 min because swiping isn't cardio.
Definitely the right one, there wasn't the threat out there to justify it and it was way overbudget like many Army aviation programs. My limited experience with Army aviation program management has not been good, with them screwing away several programs in the past two decades. I think the relative lack of more senior aviators hurts them in that respect, as does big Army's seeming attitude that aircraft are nothing more than flying jeeps.
This…not long ago the army dumped all their armed scout helicopters (Kiowa Warriors) in an attempt to add more Apache battalions and are now screaming for armed scout helicopters. To a lot of great decision making at the procurement level.
Had an airline buddy who stayed on the B727 as long as he could. When they went away at his base he went to the then new MD-80. I asked him how he like the shiny new MD-80. He shrugged and said the 727 was like a well worn Mercedes with cracked leather seats and oxidized paint that was still quick reliable and smoothly running. The MD-80 on the other hand was like a Yugo with a AAA battery powered digital clock attached to the dashboard with double sided tape.
............and the whiskey compass behind the flight crew
The Kiowas needed to go. They were being downed in OIF/OEF at an alarming rate since their primary mission was obsolete and they were being pressed into direct combat roles. You can absolutely fault Army brass for punting the replacement into the stands (three times), but they still needed to go.
It's weird because some of the United States' great helicopters (Huey, Cobra, Chinook, Blackhawk, Apache, and to some extent Osprey) lay on top of a graveyard of failures. I'm still extremely skeptical of FVL. Decent chance it's the next Commanche, regardless of the stakeholders.
For the FVL variant replacing the Army’s Blackhawk, my money is on Bell’s V-280 tilt-rotor. Helicopters just can’t compete with a tilt-rotors range - and with the future being in the Pacific, range is at a premium.
