The U.S. military is in the midst of a $100 billion program to develop new rotorcraft, according to Defense News.
Military helicopters are currently being used for reconnaissance and transportation, but the Pentagon wants to make them more like fighter jets. The goal is to make them fly faster, farther, and more quietly than ever before. These five concepts are just a taste of what may be coming:
The FVL-M will be faster than current helicopters by using a hybrid power plant and tilt-rotor technology. It’ll be able to fly at 230 knots with a range of 740 miles, or nearly three times as fast and four times as far as the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. It will also carry twice as much weight and have a much bigger range than its predecessor.
The V-280 Valor will travel at 280 knots, or about 320 mph. This aircraft represents the Army’s next generation of tiltrotor aircraft, which can take off vertically but then swivel its rotors forward for a cruise speed more like that of an airplane. This particular model would carry 14 troops or about 10,000 pounds of cargo.
The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) is expected to provide superior maneuverability in
There has been a lot of buzz around the new Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopter. The US Army has already placed an order for these helicopters and is looking to use them as a replacement for their aging fleet of Sikorsky Blackhawks, which are over three decades old.
The US Army wants these new helicopters to be faster, more maneuverable and easier to use in combat situations where they may have to perform tasks such as search and rescue, medical evacuations or just getting supplies from point A to point B. They also want them to be able to fly at higher altitudes without being affected by air turbulence like older models do when they reach higher altitudes.
These new helicopters will be able to fly up to 30,000 feet above sea level without any problems due to the new turboshaft engines that they will utilize instead of traditional piston engines found on other military aircraft such as Chinooks and Apaches. They are also going to have much better fuel efficiency than previous models due t
The U.S. Army’s AH-64 Apache helicopter is a heavily armed combat helicopter with the mission of finding and destroying tanks on the battlefield. It has been performing this mission for over 25 years, making it the longest serving combat aircraft in U.S. history, but it will soon be replaced by a new generation of attack helicopters, the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow and Lockheed Martin AH-6i Little Bird.
The Apache Longbow will be upgraded with new engines and a new body, while the Little Bird will be equipped with a new engine and an improved tail rotor system. Both helicopters are scheduled to enter service in 2018, and they will share a common flight control system, which will allow them to operate together in combat missions.
The AH-64 Apache is considered one of the most advanced military helicopters in the world, and it has been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it has also been plagued by problems that have led to several crashes, which resulted in the deaths of at least 13 American soldiers last year alone.
The Army is looking to replace its aging fleet of AH-64 Apaches with newer models that are more capable of carrying out missions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where they face increasingly sophisticated enemy forces who are
The US Army has been developing a new helicopter for the past 10 years. This week, it finally got to test it out. The Blackhawk helicopter is the Army’s primary utility lift helicopter, but it’s getting old — some of them have been in service since 1978. And the Army wants a replacement that can fly farther and faster and carry more cargo.
So it has spent more than $6 billion developing the CH-47F Chinook, which it officially unveiled on Tuesday. The new Chinook is 25 percent more fuel efficient than previous versions, and its top speed is nearly 20 mph faster. It also has an upgraded cockpit and a digital flight control system that will make it easier for pilots to fly and land when there’s low visibility. And it can carry about 1,500 pounds more cargo than the older models.
The first batch of new Chinooks is slated to be delivered to Fort Hood, Texas in September 2010 for testing among combat troops. If those tests go well, the Army plans to have a fleet of 500 by 2017.
The U.S. Army’s Black Hawk helicopter has been in service since 1979. Its sleek profile and powerful engines have made it a success on the battlefield and a big seller in the export market. Now Sikorsky Aircraft is developing a new version of the Black Hawk, called the S-97 Raider, that will be faster and able to fly higher than any other helicopter in the world.
The S-97 Raider is equipped with a pair of coaxial rotor blades which spin in opposite directions to cancel out torque, so that no tail rotor is needed. The craft relies on counter-rotating rotors for maneuverability and can fly at speeds up to 260 knots (300 mph).
Although still in development, the S-97 is expected to be available for commercial sale by 2018.
The Black Hawk helicopter is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. The Black Hawk helicopter is primarily used for air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical evacuation units.
The original UH-60A entered service with the U.S. Army in 1979 and today more than 3,000 of the improved UH-60L and UH-60M model Black Hawks are fielded by the Army alone. In addition to the U.S. Army, the UH-60 series helicopters are also used by the armed forces of 28 nations.
The new S-70i BLACK HAWK helicopter is a proven multi-mission performer that has been delivered to customers around the world and is operational in 11 countries on four continents. The BLACK HAWK helicopter has been mission tested and combat proven through more than 4 million flight hours worldwide.
The Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program is intended to replace the Bradley. As we’ve reported in the past, it was a poorly-conceived, underfunded, and badly-run program that has now collapsed.
The Army is now planning a “reset” of the OMFV program, with new requirements, a new acquisition strategy. The service plans to issue a revised request for proposals (RFP) in 2022 to industry.
The Army wants to make sure that any new RFP does not contain the same mistakes as the old one did. To do so, it will convene two industry panels of experts over the next two months that will analyze the earlier RFP and recommend fixes.
The first panel will meet from November 30 through December 2 at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. It will address technical requirements and include representatives from Boeing/Sikorsky, General Dynamics Land Systems, Raytheon and Qinetiq North America.
The second panel will meet on January 4-6 at Fort Benning, Georgia and focus on issues related to schedule and cost estimates with representatives from Boeing/Sikorsky, General Dynamics Land Systems, Raytheon and QinetiQ North