GroundPounder
Well-Known Member
I think that is what the dudes up front referred to us as. Cargo.
The worst helicopter ride was always better than the best ruck march.
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Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
The worst helicopter ride was always better than the best ruck march.
FIFY
I'm cautiously optimistic for Navy FVL, because I think/hope we're going evolutionary vice revolutionary (single-main instead of tilt or coax).
I would not be surprised to see the Navy drop out of FVL. The V-280 strikes me as irrelevant to both the ship to ship logistics mission and the anti-submarine mission. The Navy already has the V-22 for COD and the 60 can seemingly handle the current missions just fine, allowing the Navy to spend money on higher priority items.
Agreed. I've also heard the coax solutions are too tall, too heavy, and/or too difficult to fold.
This would be a classically penny-wise, pound-foolish move. The downstream result would probably look something like the HM community does now.
…but you’re not wrong. I wouldn’t put it past big Navy to do this.
FVL is more of a concept than a specific platform. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard all will need replacements for their rotor & tilt-rotor fleets, but some will have specific design constraints that others don’t (e.g.: ship compatibility for USN/USMC/USAF/USCG).
But, some technological advancements from Army FVL will likely be able to transfer to the other services (e.g.: computers sensors, software, etc.). This is partly why MOSA is such a big talking point right now, to help each service take advantage of each other’s efforts.
Also, Valor, Defiant, etc. are tech demonstrators at this point. The final products may have similar capabilities, but could also look slightly different.
They should probably settle on one aircraft for the Navy, Marines, and Air Force, but then also make that aircraft three different aircraft. Or take one of the iterations of the Bradley from the Pentagon Wars, and throw a couple rotors on it. Done. Next thing.
All 3 services already have the Osprey- it is the Army that desperately needs more range and speed. I have doubts that either Bell’s Valor or Sikorsky’s Defiant is shipboard compatible.
As for the Marines, with the Osprey far outranging the Cobra, I wonder if the Corps will make a gunship version for escort, somewhat like the Army did with the DAP H-60.
Brand new H-1s. Not going to happen for at least 20 years and with force design in full swing with large parts of Marine Aviation getting gutted - I wouldn’t expected anything until >2040. We already have a good amount of brand new H-1s sitting in the boneyard waiting to be pulled out to keep the program going for decades.
MV-22s are great aircraft but they have pros/cons for certain mission sets compared to rotary winged aircraft. The deltas in maintenance readiness are staggering. FVL will have to prove tiltrotors can churn out the sortie rate of RW and FW aircraft. The Marine Corps is very much hanging it’s hat on FVL replacing some longstanding HMLA and VMA missions. My bet is that FVL will eventually turn into a monstrous program like the MV-22 and F-35 if all the services sign into it. Lots of MIC and congressmen will be foaming at the mouth for funding.
There are lots of unwise thinking that VMU and other types of munitions are going to takeover the escort or armed reconnaissance mission vice a manned attack or utility platform. I would suggest those are complementary assets and not duplicative.
…Didn’t we try this recently? Something called a JSF or something like that? I can’t remember. It looks like a mini F-22, but like it’s short and fat sister (Definitely not as good looking either). I think it turned into a complete shitshow.
I’m pretty close to the action on this issue.
FVL is nothing like JSF. Adding blade fold wing stow is nothing like adding a lift fan.
One of the great features new aircraft are being built with is open architecture. Adding sensors and weapons will be like adding apps to an iPhone, not massive integration problems.
With luck, the army will prove out FVL. Everyone else will just customize it.
For the USMC, no one really knows what’s next. General Berger is full of surprises
FVL is nothing like JSF. Adding blade fold wing stow is nothing like adding a lift fan.
One of the great features new aircraft are being built with is open architecture. Adding sensors and weapons will be like adding apps to an iPhone, not massive integration problems.
With luck, the army will prove out FVL. Everyone else will just customize it.
For the USMC, no one really knows what’s next. General Berger is full of surprises
I’ll believe that when we see it. FD2030 is currently dead in the water from the programmatic standpoint. Large swaths of Marine Aviation funding cut in order to reinvest in new programs only to have the majority of it taken by the other services.