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Titel: U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 08/04/2012 | 09:29 uur
U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter

Apr 4, 2012
 
By Graham Warwick
Washington

It has been decades since the U.S. Army had the chance to define a clean-sheet rotorcraft. But an opportunity is approaching as the service heads toward the multi-year demonstration of configurations and technologies for next-generation utility/attack rotorcraft that could replace today's Sikorsky UH-60s and Boeing AH-64s, beginning around 2030.

The Joint Multi-Role (JMR) concept evolved from an analysis of U.S. vertical-lift needs, which included a painful assessment of the shortfalls of current rotorcraft and gaps in industry capabilities. The conclusion was that another round of upgrades for existing platforms would not be enough, and that a technology demonstration program was needed to get industry up to speed to deliver a next-generation rotorcraft on time and on cost.

The JMR technology demonstration is intended to apply to all classes of Army rotorcraft, from armed scout to heavy lift, but is focused on the medium utility-class because replacing the Black Hawk fleet "offers the biggest bang for the buck," says Ned Chase, JMR technology-demonstration team leader and chief of the platform technology division at the Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD).

Boeing, Sikorsky, Bell-Boeing (the V-22 joint venture) and tiny AVX Aircraft are working under configuration trades and analyses contracts to define concepts for a medium-utility JMR and to decide which technologies will need to be matured through flight demonstration. AVX is studying a coaxial-rotor configuration with ducted-fan propulsion; Boeing is looking at a range of options; Bell-Boeing is focusing on tiltrotors; and Sikorsky is evaluating an advanced helicopter, tiltrotor and a compound helicopter using its X2 high-speed coaxial-rotor configuration. An independent government design team is looking at advanced and compound helicopter and tiltrotor concepts.

The goal of the configuration trades and analysis is to take the laundry list of vehicle attributes that operators say they want, and recommend concepts and technologies to meet them. The studies will evaluate specific attributes, such as higher speed and optionally manned capability, by establishing their payoff on the battlefield, and estimate the value and affordability of candidate configurations. The end product is to be a performance specification for the JMR technology-demonstrator aircraft.

The studies will help balance the often-conflicting vehicle attributes that operators want. "The community is coming to an understanding on where the trades are, but they are not a decision point yet," Chase says. "And we are not ready yet, but there will come a time when we need to snap a line."

The technology demonstration will be divided into two parts: Phase 1 for the air vehicle and Phase 2 for its mission system, which lags by two years, in recognition that electronics advance faster than airframes, rotors, engines and drive systems. Both phases are to be completed by the end of fiscal 2019, when the Army plans to be in position to launch the engineering and manufacturing development program for a next-generation rotorcraft.

In parallel with the configuration trades, the government is developing the Phase 1 demonstrator specification. "The trades finish in late summer and the last draft version of the spec will be out for comment soon after," says Chase. "The next specification after that will be part of the solicitation [for Phase 1] in early 2013."

Bidders will be asked to describe what their JMR medium-utility concept is expected to do, and what technologies critical to their design will have to be proved in flight. "They will not build to the spec, but demonstrate technologies that would enable them to achieve the spec if they built to it," he says. The Army's science and technology portfolio has been directed toward conventional helicopters until now, so compound helicopter and tiltrotor configurations could require additional technology maturation, he adds.

Under Phase 1, AATD plans to carry several performers through to the preliminary design review in early fiscal 2015. "At that time we will choose one or two," Chase says. The Army has committed funds for a single air-vehicle flight demonstrator, with $187 million budgeted in fiscal 2012-16, but AATD is hopeful that funding from other services and cost-sharing by industry will enable it to afford two competing aircraft. "I think we can find a way to do two," he says.

Phase 1 flight demonstrations are intended to verify contractor performance claims, determine the readiness of critical technologies for full-scale development and assess the value of configuration attributes. Results will feed into development of a specification for the objective JMR vehicle —whatever the Army decides that is.

Budget limitations mean the demonstrators are unlikely to be full-scale. Government studies suggest a medium-utility JMR could have a 45,000-lb. gross weight (compared with 22,000 lb. for the UH-60M). "We can't afford to demonstrate something that big," Chase says, although smaller vehicles will introduce the complexity of scaling up the results to objective JMR size.

In parallel, Phase 2 will get under way to demonstrate the JMR cockpit, decision-aiding software and integrated mission system—ideally in the air-vehicle demonstrators themselves, but alternatively in surrogate aircraft. This will kick off with the award of multiple contracts for mission-system effectiveness trades and analyses—equivalent to the configuration studies—to feed into the Phase 2 specification.

Proposals for the mission-system trades are due on April 1 and, as with the air-vehicle studies, contractors will be asked to identify those "game-changing" technologies that need maturing through flight demonstration to be ready for full-scale development. There are several supporting technology-development efforts under way this year. "We are having to do some things in parallel, which is not ideal," says Keith Arnold, team leader for teaming and intelligence within AATD's systems integration division.

The foundation for the JMR mission system is the open-system Joint Common Architecture (JCA), based on the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) reusable-software standard developed by government and industry. "Based on open standards like FACE, JCA is instantiating an open systems architecture that is going to be key to any future aircraft," says Arnold. "JCA has got to work if we are to change the way Defense Department aircraft are built and bought, and it's a big part of what JMR is about."

The new open standards and development tools will be used in a JCA demonstration planned for fiscal 2014-15. This will feed into the JMR Phase 2 demonstration, beginning in fiscal 2015, "which will develop specific pieces of the mission system and take others that exist and make then work together in a new architecture and airframe," Arnold says. "We'd like to put the mission system on one of the air-vehicle demonstrators, but that injects risk," he says. "So only the stuff that has to be will be tested in flight on the Phase 1 air vehicles. What we can, we will test in surrogate vehicles or on the bench."

Also feeding into Phase 2 are AATD research programs developing advanced cockpit concepts and crew decision-aiding tools. Much of this work revolves around manned/unmanned teaming, vehicle autonomy and optionally piloted capability. "We are trying to take an integrated look at the battlespace. This aircraft will not be operating alone, but in a team as part of a larger battle," Arnold says.

On the cockpit side, "there has been a lot of research into interface devices and methodologies that we would like to pull together to see what the best set of hardware is," he says. On the decision-aiding side, work is aimed at "answering basic questions about the role of the human in future intelligent cockpits, "he says. "We have aircraft that can fly themselves, so what is the optimum allocation of tasks between the human and the machine?" The JMR demonstration will establish a baseline level of decision-aiding within the JCA architecture.

A parallel but different effort is looking at propulsion. The Improved Turbine Engine Technology (ITEP) program has two goals. One is to boost the range, payload and hot-and-high performance of the AH-64 and H-60 series by providing a drop-in replacement for the General Electric T700 family (developed 40 years ago) that is 25% more fuel efficient and 50% more powerful. The other is to prove the technology base for a JMR engine. A new requirement—added in 2011 after ITEP started—is to look at integrating dust and particle separation into the engine, doing a better job than external separators and sapping less engine performance.

GE and Advanced Turbine Engine Co. (ATEC), a Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney joint venture, are working in parallel on a science and technology phase of ITEP, which culminates this year with bench-testing of complete demonstrator engines. A Honeywell executive says ATEC expects this to be followed by a request for proposals for an initial engineering, manufacturing and development phase, involving both teams. "The Army's strategy is to maintain two teams for as long as they can," the executive tells DTI. In 2016, however, the plan is that one team will be selected to continue into flight tests.

ATEC's HPW3000 is a two-spool engine (with high-pressure and low-pressure spools, plus a power turbine). which provides improved efficiency and the ability to start with a battery, eliminating the need for an auxiliary power unit.

The JMR technology demonstration will be the culmination of more than decade of science and technology work by the Army aimed at a next-generation rotorcraft. "A lot of things are coming together at the right time," says Chase. "We put a lot of time and human capital into coming up with an investment strategy, and now the technologies are coming home to roost in the form of a demonstrator."

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/dti/2012/04/01/DT_04_01_2012_p30-440454.xml&headline=U.S.%20Army%20Defining%20New%20Multi-Role%20Helicopter&next=10
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: dudge op 08/04/2012 | 10:07 uur
Ben heel benieuwd. Hoop wel dat er niet weer aan een luchtkasteel gebouwd wordt. En als ik lees:

CitaatBudget limitations mean the demonstrators are unlikely to be full-scale. Government studies suggest a medium-utility JMR could have a 45,000-lb. gross weight (compared with 22,000 lb. for the UH-60M). "We can't afford to demonstrate something that big," Chase says, although smaller vehicles will introduce the complexity of scaling up the results to objective JMR size.

Vraag ik me eerst af, waarom moet deze heli dan zo zwaar worden, want 45.000lb is toch echt wel veel? Een S92 komt tot ruim 26.000, een AW101 komt tot 32.000lb. En dat zijn beide tot best grote heli's. Voor een medium utility?
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 05/07/2014 | 10:49 uur
Is this the US Army's next generation 'superchopper'? Radical design has dual tilting blades and can travel at over 270mph

AVX design believed to be frontrunner to US Army contract
Uses two rotors to create lift, while fans propel it forward to reach 230 knots
Firm also developing civilian version of the helicopter

By Mark Prigg

Published: 18:40 GMT, 4 July 2014  | Updated: 21:07 GMT, 4 July 2014

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2681074/Is-US-Armys-generation-superchopper-Radical-design-dual-tilting-blades-travel-50-faster-Black-Hawk.html#ixzz36a9O7ZT4

Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 05/07/2014 | 10:57 uur
Citaat van: www.dailymail.co.uk Vandaag om 10:49
Is this the US Army's next generation 'superchopper'?

Zien we hier de opvolger van de Cougar voor de KLu (als deze mag blijven incl. uitbreiding van 8 naar 12-13 en MLU) zo ergens rond 2023-25?

Utopianen.... kom er maar in  :angel:
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: StrataNL op 05/07/2014 | 11:14 uur
Citaat van: jurrien visser op 05/07/2014 | 10:57 uur
Zien we hier de opvolger van de Cougar voor de KLu (als deze mag blijven incl. uitbreiding van 8 naar 12-13 en MLU) zo ergens rond 2023-25?

Utopianen.... kom er maar in  :angel:

Meervoud nu al?  ;D

A.u.b. eerst uit ontwikkelen en bewijzen. En het liefst ook geschikt voor maritiem gebruik. Dan kunnen we kijken of het wat voor ons is (als die dan teminste nog bestaat).
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 05/07/2014 | 11:25 uur
Citaat van: Strata op 05/07/2014 | 11:14 uur
Meervoud nu al?  ;D

A.u.b. eerst uit ontwikkelen en bewijzen. En het liefst ook geschikt voor maritiem gebruik. Dan kunnen we kijken of het wat voor ons is (als die dan teminste nog bestaat).

Yep nu al meervoud....  ;D (en dan laat ik de spreadsheet lovers en Zeeuwsmeisje aanbidders nog maar even buiten beschouwing)

Maar natuurlijk moet een US Blakhawk vervanger eerst zijn uit ontwikkeld zijn en zich bewezen hebben, wat mij betreft ook in het zoute domein.

Welk type de competitie ook wint, na verwachting is het aantal  daarna voldoende attractief, zonder een "ziljoen" subvarianten, om het als kandidaat te beschouwen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 05/07/2014 | 11:50 uur
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: StrataNL op 05/07/2014 | 11:51 uur
Citaat van: jurrien visser op 05/07/2014 | 11:25 uur
Yep nu al meervoud....  ;D (en dan laat ik de spreadsheet lovers en Zeeuwsmeisje aanbidders nog maar even buiten beschouwing)

Maar natuurlijk moet een US Blakhawk vervanger eerst zijn uit ontwikkeld zijn en zich bewezen hebben, wat mij betreft ook in het zoute domein.

Welk type de competitie ook wint, na verwachting is het aantal  daarna voldoende attractief, zonder een "ziljoen" subvarianten, om het als kandidaat te beschouwen.

Beschouw mezelf gelukkig niet als een Utopiaan, spreadsheet lover of Zeeuwsmeisje aanbidder, eerder een nuchtere Hollander  ;)

Maar natuurlijk?? Was het maar zo "natuurlijk"... Ik verwacht niet dat dit type uit ontwikkeld is en zich bewezen heeft voordat de Cougars eruit gaan. Dus blijft over: Investeren in een nieuw project met de risico's van dien (F35, NH90 enz.) of een nieuwe generatie Blackhawk, Cougar/Caracal, of AW149 (zullen tegen 2024 ook wel evoluties ondergaan).

Keuzes, keuzes.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 05/07/2014 | 11:56 uur
Citaat van: Strata op 05/07/2014 | 11:51 uur
Keuzes, keuzes.

Helemaal waar.

Eerst maar eens afwachten wat er gebeurd met de heli-capaciteit van de NL defensie.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/10/2014 | 11:25 uur
Behold the newest, fastest, most badass attack helicopter in the world

Oct 2, 2014

The S-97 Raider—Sikorsky new attack helicopter—is out and it is not only gorgeous. It's absolutely badass. It is based in the same technology as their X2 technology demonstrator, which broke the world helicopter speed record in 2010: 260 knots—that's 299.2mph (481.5km/h) vs the 172mph of conventional helicopters.

According to Sikorsky's Mike Miller, it "is an all-new helicopter, all-new configuration. We haven't seen something this new in 30 years." The Raider uses counter-rotating rotor blades with a push propeller on the tail. This unique combination allows it to pulverize all speed records.

Obviously, its weight is limited. This thing will not have the same kind of firepower as heavier helicopters, but it will be able to zip to any location and provide troop support faster than any other chopper.

The aircraft will not be operative in the US military just yet. In fact, only two Raiders are built. They will be tested during 2015.

Zie link voor de plaatjes

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/sikorskys-new-attack-helicopter-is-the-most-badass-helo-1641816294
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Enforcer op 03/10/2014 | 14:04 uur
Het lijkt eerder op een transport chopper die een kleine SF eenheid kan afzetten ipv een echte Attack-chopper.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 03/10/2014 | 14:09 uur
Citaat van: Enforcer op 03/10/2014 | 14:04 uur
Het lijkt eerder op een transport chopper die een kleine SF eenheid kan afzetten ipv een echte Attack-chopper.
hij is niet bedoeld als vervanging voor de gevechtshelikopter. Wel voor de verkennings/lichte aanvalsheli's OH-58 Kiowa..
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: bergd op 03/10/2014 | 17:02 uur
Is de S-97 geen autogyro wat betekend dat hij veel onderhoudsvriendelijker (goedkoper) en veiliger is?
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/10/2014 | 18:57 uur


Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 20:51 uur
In de competitie om FVL (Future of Vertical Lift) Program van de US Armed Forces vind ik eigenlijk het ontwerp van AVX Aircraft Company net wat gewaagder, praktischer.

Het ontwerp van Sikorsky ; ziet er gelikt uit !  ...           (Sikorsky weet wel hoe ze iets moeten maken en presenteren !)



(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fraider.sikorsky.com%2Fui%2Fimages%2FIMG_8195RCSCompressed.jpg&hash=b450b2a8559495f1c950b3de1568da756570fbc8)


Die van AVX heeft een geheel andere romp, wel de drukrotors en ook de counter-rotating propellers

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhotdigitalnews.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F10%2FAVX_Aircraft_JMR_02.jpg&hash=534b9643c8f84644e40bd588d2fe573fad121c2a)
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Enforcer op 03/10/2014 | 21:04 uur
http://www.cnet.com/news/sikorsky-s-97-helicopter-sports-sleek-unusual-design/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

Er kunnen 6 militairen mee vervoerd worden naast de 2 piloten.

Citaat van: Elzenga op 03/10/2014 | 14:09 uur
hij is niet bedoeld als vervanging voor de gevechtshelikopter. Wel voor de verkennings/lichte aanvalsheli's OH-58 Kiowa..

Dat stond wel in de openingszin van het artikel van dit topic.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 21:55 uur
the S-97 Raider helicopter features next-generation technologies in a multi-mission configuration (armed aerial scout or light assault), capable of carrying six troops and external weapons. The coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and pusher propeller provide cruise speeds up to 220 knots (253 mph), more than double the speed of conventional helicopters.

Sikorsky will offer the Raider aircraft as a replacement for the U.S. Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter fleet based on the Army's future operational and financial priorities, and for the special operations platform.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/157628/sikorsky-unveils-out-s_97-raider-prototype.html
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: mandaje op 03/10/2014 | 22:05 uur
Citaat van: bergd op 03/10/2014 | 17:02 uur
Is de S-97 geen autogyro wat betekend dat hij veel onderhoudsvriendelijker (goedkoper) en veiliger is?

Nee, het is geen autogyro, want de contra-roterende horizontale bladen worden aangedreven door een turbine. Dat ze contra-roterend zijn maakt het erg complex en zeker niet onderhoudsvriendelijk.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 03/10/2014 | 22:25 uur
Citaat van: mandaje op 03/10/2014 | 22:05 uur
Nee, het is geen autogyro, want de contra-roterende horizontale bladen worden aangedreven door een turbine. Dat ze contra-roterend zijn maakt het erg complex en zeker niet onderhoudsvriendelijk.
De bladen zijn wel extra stijf..en ophanging anders...daarom is de afstand tussen beide rotors kleiner dan bij de Russische contra-roterende modellen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 03/10/2014 | 22:26 uur
Citaat van: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 20:51 uur
In de competitie om FVL (Future of Vertical Lift) Program van de US Armed Forces vind ik eigenlijk het ontwerp van AVX Aircraft Company net wat gewaagder, praktischer.

Het ontwerp van Sikorsky ; ziet er gelikt uit !  ...           (Sikorsky weet wel hoe ze iets moeten maken en presenteren !)
...
Voor dat project..vervanging UH60... levert Sikorsky een grotere versie van dit concept. De S-97 is daar geen kandidaat voor.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 23:17 uur
Het project is in delen geknipt

Four size configurations (which may or may not be of the same design) are envisioned to replace 25 current rotorcraft types:

JMR-Light: Scout version to replace the OH-58 Kiowa; introduction planned for 2030.
JMR-Medium: Utility and attack versions to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache; introduction planned for 2027–2028.
JMR-Heavy: Cargo version to replace the CH-47 Chinook; introduction planned for 2035, although Boeing expects 2060.[11]
JMR-Ultra: New ultra-sized version for vertical lift aircraft with performance similar to fixed-wing tactical transport aircraft, such as the C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas; introduction planned for 2025.

De S-97 is dus voor een ontwerp voor JMR-Light
De SB-1 Defiant is een JMR-medium, een grotere variant met dezelfde vorm, elementen als de S-97

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vertical_Lift
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 04/10/2014 | 00:04 uur
Citaat van: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 23:17 uur
Het project is in delen geknipt

Four size configurations (which may or may not be of the same design) are envisioned to replace 25 current rotorcraft types:

JMR-Light: Scout version to replace the OH-58 Kiowa; introduction planned for 2030.
JMR-Medium: Utility and attack versions to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache; introduction planned for 2027–2028.
JMR-Heavy: Cargo version to replace the CH-47 Chinook; introduction planned for 2035, although Boeing expects 2060.[11]
JMR-Ultra: New ultra-sized version for vertical lift aircraft with performance similar to fixed-wing tactical transport aircraft, such as the C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas; introduction planned for 2025.

De S-97 is dus voor een ontwerp voor JMR-Light

De SB-1 Defiant is een JMR-medium, een grotere variant met dezelfde vorm, elementen als de S-97

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vertical_Lift

Ik zie zomaar een variant (of meerdere) in 2030 voor de KLu (laat 2030 ook een richt datum zijn voor de Apache vervanger) Daarnaast zullen ook de 12 Cougars (na een eventuele MLU) tegen die tijd vervangen moeten worden als ze úberhaubt worden vervangen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 04/10/2014 | 00:42 uur
Affordability Challenge In Pursuit Of Army JMR/FVL

Higher speed will not be enough to persuade the U.S. Army to pursue an advanced rotorcraft

A version of this article appears in the August 25 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Faviationweek.com%2Fsite-files%2Faviationweek.com%2Ffiles%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F08%2FAW_08_25_2014_2943_0.jpg&hash=1e617108faebd68314ac2802b4aef4f734b71685)

Bell must prove that the cost and complexity of a tiltrotor can be reduced significantly. Credit: Bell Helicopter Concept

The two teams have been chosen to fly high-speed rotorcraft in 2017 under the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration, a precursor to the planned Future Vertical Lift Medium (FVL-M) program to replace first the utility UH-60s and later the Army's Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. FVL-M could also replace the Navy's Sikorsky MH-60 Seahawks and the Air Force's Black Hawk variants.

Between them, the three companies supply most of the Pentagon's rotorcraft. For Boeing and Sikorsky, winning one of the two JMR "X-plane" contracts and an FLV-M "Y-plane" fly-off planned for the mid-2020s is crucial to protecting their incumbency with the Army. For Bell, FVL-M would keep the company in the Army business after the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is phased out.

They faced competition for the demonstrator contracts from two companies offering a "small prime, big team" approach to JMR/FVL—AVX Aircraft and Karem Aircraft. But ensuring the teams had the capability to accomplish the demonstration was a key part of the Army's evaluation, and the "Big Three" and their suppliers brought significant engineering resources and cost-sharing to the table. Both AVX and Karem are waiting to hear if the Army will fund them to continue some technology development work on their designs.

Agreements in place with all four bidders called for 50:50 cost sharing, but both Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing say industry is investing much more than the government. The reason is the program's importance to the rotorcraft manufacturers. JMR/FVL will "reinvigorate industry with an opportunity to design an aircraft from the ground up," says Pat Donnelly, director of the Sikorsky/Boeing JMR team, noting that winning FVL-M would be "a significant continuation of the industrial base built up for Black Hawk and Apache."

But FVL-M is not a done deal for the JMR winners. The technology demonstration is intended to ensure that advanced rotorcraft capable of at least 230 kt.—50% faster than the Black Hawk—are viable candidates for procurement. However, the Army has yet to decide whether and when to launch a program, or if it will be an advanced rotorcraft, a new conventional helicopter or another upgrade to the UH-60.

"The timeline is a government decision. The best we can do is execute the [demonstration] program well, show the Army the realm of the possible by 2017 and make it more likely they will want to commit," says Chris Gehler, director of military program operations for Bell. "Affordability is critical." Cost-prohibitive leap-ahead performance is not a solution, he says. "Everything we are doing is focused on bringing an affordable vehicle to the game. We have to give them a reason to continue."

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Faviationweek.com%2Fsite-files%2Faviationweek.com%2Ffiles%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F08%2FAW_08_25_2014_2944.jpg&hash=aecec4a7fcb8f40a1fc9e3c5469010cf418d8729)
Sikorsky/Boeing must prove the benefit of coaxial rotors and propulsor to the utility mission. Credit: Sikorsky-Boeing Concept

For Bell, proving its 280-kt.-cruise V-280 Valor tiltrotor is affordable is crucial because the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey has established the tiltrotor's reputation as capable, but costly to produce and maintain. "With tiltrotor you get inherent performance, but the question is affordability," says Gehler. "The V-280 is a clean-sheet third-generation tiltrotor. Our focus is on reducing cost and weight, increasing reliability and performance, and making the aircraft come together in the most affordable way."

The main driver of cost is weight, Gehler says, so the V-280 makes extensive use of composites in the wing, fuselage and V tail. Wing skins and ribs are of honeycomb-stiffened sandwich construction with large-cell carbon cores for fewer, larger and lighter parts. Skins and ribs are paste-bonded together, eliminating fasteners. Costs are reduced more than 30% compared with a scaled V-22 wing, Bell says.

For Sikorsky/Boeing, the 230-kt.-plus SB-1 Defiant is a scale-up of the rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration already flown at smaller size with Sikorsky's X2 Technology demonstrator and being built at a larger size with two industry-funded S-97 Raider light tactical helicopter prototypes, the first of which is to fly by year-end. In addition to affordability, the team will have to demonstrate the utility of the SB-1's rigid rotors and tail-mounted propeller in the Black Hawk's transport missions.

"Our hingeless coaxial rotors provide better maneuverability and handling, and allow us to reduce the height between the rotors for lower drag," says Donnelly. "The goal is long range and high speed without compromising low-speed maneuverability. The Defiant will operate like a helicopter in the landing zone, but have the speed and range of a tiltrotor." The variable-pitch propulsion will provide acceleration and deceleration, nose-up/-down pitch pointing and can be declutched for safety and quietness in the landing zone, he says.

In the phase just ended, each contender produced two rotorcraft designs, for the air vehicle concept demonstrator (AVCD) and for an objective aircraft meeting the model performance specification (MPS)—the Army science and technology community's best guess at the FVL-M operational requirements, which will not be set for several more years. "The AVCD is a fully representative, full-scale flight demo of the MPS design to provide the Army with an accurate reflection of what to expect in a future medium-class aircraft," says Gehler.

The AVCD designs used available technology, including legacy engines: General Electric T64s for Bell's V-280 and Honeywell T55s for Sikorsky/Boeing's Defiant. The MPS designs were not limited to what is available now, and could be designed around the Army's planned fuel-efficient Future Affordable Turbine Engine, for which GE is building a demonstrator. "Composites use in the AVCD fuselage is similar to the V-22, with carbon skins and aluminum stringers. MPS has a completely composite fuselage," says Gehler.

http://aviationweek.com/defense/affordability-challenge-pursuit-army-jmrfvl
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 04/10/2014 | 16:55 uur
Sikorsky S-97 Raider Specification & Technical Data

October 4, 2014

In mid-2008, Sikorsky unveiled a revolutionary technology demonstrator. They called it the X2. Just two years later, the very same aircraft was performing unbelievable maneuvers and had unofficially dethroned the Westland Lynx to become the world's fastest rotorcraft.

The secret behind the X2's speed and agility was the presence of a set of composite, four bladed, coaxial rotors. Though this area demanded a high level of expertise, Sikorsky had been working on this specific area for decades on different rotorcraft, starting with the X-69 followed by the UH-60 Black Hawk and the RAH-66 Comanche.

What the coaxial rotors meant was that a separate tail rotor was not required. This freed up some real estate on the tail for the addition of the pusher propeller. The pusher propeller produced a considerable amount of thrust and played a major role in increasing the top speed of the rotorcraft. A single LHTEC T800 LHT 801 turbo shaft engine powered both the coaxial rotor blades as well as the six bladed pusher propeller.

Sikorsky unveiled two S-97 prototypes at its facility in West Palm Beach, Florida on October 2nd. "Sikorsky will begin ground testing shortly and is on track for first flight this year," Sikorsky's Advanced Military Program Director Steve Engerbretson said. "The entire flight program will take about a year to complete."

S97 raider

There is good reason for Sikorsky to finish flight-testing of the S-97 as soon as possible. The Stratford based company and its partners have privately funded the entire S-97 program. Therefore, they intend on offering the S-97 to the US Army as a replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, a helicopter that dates back to the Vietnam War era, as part of the Armed Aerial Scout program (AAS). The OH-58 Kiowa Warrior was primarily an observation or "scout" helicopter, also capable of fulfilling the light attack role. Due to its small size and ability to get in and out of sticky situations without so much as breaking a sweat, Special Forces operators preferred it. The S-97 Raider seems to be ideally suited for this role, as it not only lives up to, but also improves upon the characteristics of the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior.

With a top speed of almost 220 knots, heavy armament, high power to weight ratio and the ability to carry up to 6 personnel, the advantages of the S-97 are as clear as day. However, if the last couple of years have taught us anything, it is not to be over reliant on technology.

"If it's not broken, don't fix it". It will be interesting to see if the S-97 Raider will be able to achieve what the V-22 and the F-35 as of yet, have not.

Sikorsky S-97 Raider

Role Scout and attack helicopter
National origin United States
Manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft
First flight  
Introduction  
Primary users Unites States Army
Unit cost  
Number built  
Crew 0-2 pilots
Capacity 6 troops
Length 35 ft (11 m)
Gross weight 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)
Max takeoff weight 1 × General Electric YT706 , 2,600 shp (1,900 kW)
Powerplant 1 (2 coaxial)× 34 ft (10 m)
Main rotor diameter 1 (2 coaxial)× 34 ft (10 m)
Propellers 6-bladed pusher propeller, Variable pitch, clutchable, 7 ft (2.1 m) diameter
Cruising speed 253 mph; 407 km/h (220 kn) (with external weapons)
Range 354 mi; 308 nmi (570 km)
Service ceiling 10,000 ft (3,048 m) 95?
Guns 50 cal gun w/500 rounds
Rockets 7 shot rockets pod

http://www.defenceaviation.com/2014/10/sikorsky-s-97-raider-specification-technical-data.html
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 07/10/2014 | 08:54 uur
Sikorsky Talks To Customers About Potential Raider Applications

Sikorsky defined the modern helicopter when the VS-300, with single main and tail rotors, made its first flight in 1939. Now the manufacturer wants to redefine rotorcraft with a configuration that offers higher speed, maneuverability and hover performance, but retains the helicopter's defining low-speed agility while enabling unique flight characteristics.

Rolled out at Sikorsky's development test center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 2, the S-97 Raider is the second example of the new configuration and a third is on the way. First was the X2 technology demonstrator, which exceeded 260 kt. in 2010. The third, the Sikorsky/Boeing SB.1 Defiant, is to fly in 2017 under the U.S. Army's Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration.

While potentially a product in its own right, the Raider constitutes a crucial step in proving that Sikorsky's rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration can be scaled from the 6,000-lb.-gross-weight X2 to a 30,000-lb.-class Future Vertical Lift Medium utility rotorcraft that could replace thousands of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks beginning around 2035.

The industry-funded Raider program also provides an opportunity for Sikorsky to hone the rapid-prototyping processes pioneered on the company-funded X2 and now being applied to the JMR demonstrator, the cost of which is being shared by industry and the Army.

"The philosophy behind the X2 technology demonstrator is carried over: a rapid prototyping culture with a small team brokering the best in industry and innovating at the system level to create an innovative assemblage of things we know and understand that has really good traceability [to production]," says Mark Miller, vice president of research and engineering.

Sikorsky emphasizes the X2 was developed not by invention, but intelligent integration of available technologies. The company first flew the rigid coaxial-rotor compound configuration in the 1970s with the XH-59A experimental helicopter. This was fast, exceeding 260 kt., but noisy, shaky, thirsty, complex and hard to fly, requiring two pilots to manage four engines.

The X2 demonstrator applied advances in fly-by-wire flight control, rotor-hub drag reduction, integrated auxiliary propulsion, active vibration control and lightweight, stiff composite blades and structures, to overcome the drawbacks and unlock the benefits of the configuration. The result was a single-pilot, single-engine aircraft with similar vibration levels to a Black Hawk while flying twice as fast.

The X2 was a $50 million internally funded effort that took 43 months to first flight and achieved the 250-kt. level-flight speed goal in 17 test flights. From launch of the Raider in July 2010 to a first flight in December will be 49 months, and the two-prototype program is expected to cost Sikorsky and its suppliers around $200 million. The first aircraft will be used for envelope expansion and the second for customer demonstrations.

Powered by a single 2,600-shp-class General Electric YT706, the 11,500-lb.-gross-weight Raider has 34-ft.-dia. hingeless rotors each with four blades. Coaxial rotors eliminate the need for an anti-torque tailrotor. Instead, the engine also drives a 7-ft.-dia. variable-pitch propeller on the tail that provides thrust for high speed, but can be disengaged via a clutch at low speed or in hover to increase safety and reduce noise.

The Raider is designed to exceed 220 kt. in cruise, but the propulsor will also enable new modes of flight, including level-attitude acceleration and deceleration and nose-pointing for weapons employment. The Raider test program is expected to explore the utility of these new characteristics.

Key to Raider's rapid development has been a virtual design environment in which "we build before we build, and fly before we fly," says Miller. "We have a full system-integration laboratory, with every piece of hardware and software—sensors, generators, hydraulics—in the lab so we can shake it all out before we fly," explains Chris Van Buiten, vice president of technology and innovation. "We started to fly on the ground a year ago, so we could find problems well in advance."

High-fidelity modeling and simulation tools play a key role. "Our purpose here is moving risk to the left, taking time up front to eliminate or minimize discoveries that would disrupt the program," notes Miller. "We have had basically zero discovery in assembly." Thanks to kinematic modeling, for example, the retractable main landing gear was installed in days, not weeks, and worked first time, he adds.

"Rapid prototyping does not mean cutting things out," says Miller. "When you push fundamental discovery into flight test, you risk the aircraft being down for months. The X2 expanded the envelope very efficiently, in 17 flights. Flying is expensive and we want to be pushing the envelope, not learning how the aircraft works," he says. "Sure, we will have discoveries in ground test and flight test, but we won't stumble on something we stumbled on a year ago," adds Van Buiten.

The company also relies heavily on its 53 supplier partners. "They provide 90% of the aircraft and Sikorsky does the integration and interface control documentation. This has allowed us to go fast with a high-quality culture," explains Van Buiten. "We have suppliers from large to small, all with different degrees of go-fast, and they are delivering parts in a time-frame they are not used to. It is exciting to watch."

"The industry is on the road to doing business with highly sourced, high-technology content," asserts Miller. "While we have a very extensive sup-plier network, we have strong system-level modeling tools and interface controls—the virtual design environment needs those," he says, noting the Raider suppliers all simultaneously work with the same design model, with no latency.

The first Raider is ready to go into ground test, says Van Buiten. "All the parts are in flow for the second aircraft, and the fuselage is done. We will have a bit of time in flight on No. 1 before we assemble No. 2 so we can incorporate any changes." A four-phase flight-test program is planned for No. 1, beginning with hover and low-speed testing, then expansion of the speed and maneuver envelope, and "pulling Gs at speed and unconventional low-speed maneuvers" with the propulsor.

"We will pick up where the X2 left off," says Miller. "We've been doing a lot of operational analysis and putting together vignettes to show how the unique flight characteristics of the aircraft can be used to fundamentally do things differently." Helicopter, fixed-wing and tiltrotor pilots have all flown the Raider simulator and provided feedback incorporated into the vignettes. "We plan to do some very unique demonstrations to show what it can do."

The industry-funded Raider prototypes are representative of the aircraft Sikorsky has offered to meet the U.S. Army's Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, which is now in limbo because of budget pressures. "It is not a production aircraft, but is much more productized," says Miller. The prototypes are not built to military specifications, but Sikorsky is maintaining traceability to a parallel, fully productionized and military-qualified, objective aircraft design.

"Anywhere there is a difference [between the designs] we have traceability to a detailed analysis of what that item will cost [in production]," explains Miller. "We fully understand the production aircraft. There are no leaps of faith." This process is behind Sikorsky's confidence in its highly public declaration last year that a production Raider would have a $15 million flyaway cost—25% more than an off-the-shelf helicopter—based on building 428 aircraft to replace the Army's Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors.

Although AAS is on hold, Sikorsky is discussing with potential customers what they want to see demonstrated. "We have the opportunity to do some unique missionization of Aircraft 2, and bring in other technologies in collaboration with industry and customers," says Miller. "We are sitting down with potential customers discussing how the aircraft might be uniquely configured."

As Sikorsky prepares to fly the Raider, it already is feeding lessons learned to the JMR program with Boeing. "It is not complete transference, but we will get a running start on JMR," notes Miller. The virtual design environment is "robust and transferable, and we took great pains to document the rapid prototyping process so we can continue to do programs very fast," adds Doug Shidler, director of the JMR technology demonstrator program. "What we were able to do on Raider we are seeing on JMR."

http://aviationweek.com/defense/sikorsky-talks-customers-about-potential-raider-applications
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 22/10/2014 | 09:03 uur
Sikorsky, Bell Tout Flying Characteristics Of JMR Rotorcraft Candidates

Replacing U.S. Army medium helicopters is about more than speed

Speed comes at a cost and, as Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing design fast rotorcraft demonstrators for the U.S. Army, to justify the price they must prove their designs will do more than cross the battlefield more swiftly than today's helicopters.

Their competing Joint Multi Role (JMR) demonstrators are set to fly in 2017, but Sikorsky will have an early opportunity to showcase all its rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration can do when its 220-kt. S-97 Raider armed scout prototype flies.

The first industry funded S-97 rolled out Oct. 2 (see photo) and is planned to fly this year. A second will be used for customer demonstrations soon after the first Raider has opened up the flight envelope. Sikorsky is already designing demonstrations with prospective customers, to show the military utility of higher speed, but also the design's "unique flight characteristics."

Sikorsky's X2 configuration comprises contra-rotating rotors with hingeless hubs and stiff blades for hover efficiency and low-speed agility. The rigid rotors are closely spaced, hubs and shaft faired, to minimize drag at high speed. Coaxial rotors eliminate the tailrotor. Instead the engine also drives a pusher propulsor via a clutch so the propeller can be disengaged at low speed to increase safety and reduce noise.

This integration of coaxial rotors and pusher propulsor gives the Raider its unique characteristics. The 11,000-lb. helicopter will hover out-of-ground effect at 10,000 ft. on a 95F day, compared with 4,000 ft. for the Army's 5,500-lb. Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout. The Raider will cruise at 220 kt. carrying external stores—faster when clean and light—while the OH-58D can be limited to just 90 kt. in hot/high conditions, Sikorsky says.

But the variable-pitch propulsor, active elevons and rudders on the tail, and rotor disks that can tilt together or differentially give the S-97—and therefore also the Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 Defiant JMR demonstrator—"more control degrees of freedom" than a conventional helicopter, says Andreas Bernhard, Raider chief engineer.

To move into forward flight from the hover, a traditional helicopter tilts its rotor disk down and the fuselage follows, leaving the pilots looking at the ground as it accelerates. Using the pusher propeller, the Raider can lift into a hover and accelerate "in a level attitude to 200 kt. at the end of the runway, giving the pilots complete situational awareness of the environment around them," Bernhard says.

At low speed, the propulsor's forward- and reverse-thrust capability "allows us to decouple the aircraft's attitude from its trajectory, to point it in directions different to where it is flying," Bernhard says. "We can hang on the prop and drop the nose, or sit on the prop and pull the nose up, which allows us to sweep a cone with the sensors and weapons."

In level flight, rudders and elevons allow different trim states that enable aircraft attitude to be adjusted to reduce drag or optimize the sensor or weapon field of regard, he says. The Raider will also be able to pull -higher-g maneuvers at higher speeds than conventional helicopters, although Sikorsky is not revealing its maneuverability targets for the aircraft.

But it is not just Sikorsky (and Boeing) that must prove the value of a new configuration. Bell has to show that a high-speed tiltrotor can match a helicopter in hover capability and low-speed agility. The V-22 Osprey has proved a tiltotor is fast, and can decelerate and accelerate quickly to increase survivability into and out of the landing zone. But the V-22 has higher disk loading and lower hover efficiency than a helicopter.

Compared to the V-22, the 280-kt. V-280 Valor JMR demonstrator will be simpler and lighter, with lower disk loading and longer wing for greater hover and cruise efficiency. But Bell does not have a prototype to display before the V-280 flies. So it has teamed with Textron sister company TRU Simulation & Training to build a high-fidelity marketing simulator. "We want to get more pilots in, so they can understand how to fly a tiltrotor, its acceleration and deceleration and low-speed agility," says Keith Flail, Bell's Future Vertical Lift program director.

http://aviationweek.com/technology/sikorsky-bell-tout-flying-characteristics-jmr-rotorcraft-candidates
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 05/02/2015 | 09:07 uur
Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER Program Begins Ground Tests

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), today announced the start of bladed ground testing, a major milestone, for the S-97 RAIDER™ program. The RAIDER™ is an armed reconnaissance rotorcraft designed to significantly outmatch conventional military helicopters in maneuverability, payload, speed, range and high/hot environmental conditions.

"Testing all of the aircraft's systems together, for the first time, marks significant progress in the development of this next generation helicopter and moves the program closer to first flight," said S-97 RAIDER Program Manager Mark Hammond.

During the ground runs phase, the S-97 RAIDER team is testing the first of two aircraft prototypes as a completed system for the first time. The team will perform initial ground tests with the aircraft tied down and will focus on verifying correct operation of the propulsion system, drive train, rotor control system and pilot-vehicle interface.

This testing comes on the heels of the recent successful completion of software qualification testing, component fatigue testing, and gearbox testing, for the first S-97 RAIDER prototype.

Sikorsky launched the S-97 RAIDER program in October 2010 with the objectives of maturing the X2™ rotorcraft design and offering a helicopter to meet U.S. Army reconnaissance and special operations needs.

In addition to ground runs for the first prototype, the program team at Sikorsky's Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, is prepared to begin final assembly of the second prototype S-97 RAIDER helicopter, following acceptance last month of the fuselage structure from Aurora Flight Sciences. Sikorsky rolled out the first prototype in October 2014.

Based on Sikorsky's rigid X2 rotor coaxial design, the S-97 RAIDER helicopter features next-generation technologies in a multi-mission configuration, capable of carrying six troops and external weapons. The coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and pusher propeller provide cruise speeds up to 220 knots (253 mph).

"We look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the RAIDER's revolutionary performance and unmatched maneuverability for the U.S. Army," said Steve Engebretson, Director, Advanced Military Programs. "We're delivering on our promise to design and build a helicopter with performance capabilities not seen before."

The S-97 RAIDER helicopter demonstrator program is 100 percent industry-funded. Sikorsky provides 75 percent of the investment and the suppliers provide the remaining funding. Sikorsky's goal is to attract government interest in the program.

https://www.defencetalk.com/sikorsky-s-97-raider-program-begins-ground-tests-62629/
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 05/02/2015 | 09:11 uur
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 05/02/2015 | 14:38 uur
Looking good!!..
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 02/05/2015 | 20:10 uur
U.S. Army Selects Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing to Build Prototypes for Next Generation Helicopter Program

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fnews.usni.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F10%2Fimage.jpg%3Fresize%3D625%252C469&hash=ef45c1bd2e2049068e5ff825d95b5380ff080441)
SB-1 Defiant.

The U.S. Army has picked designs from Bell Helicopter and a Sikorsky/Boeing team to continue development of Joint Multi-Role (JMR) high-speed rotorcraft designs.

"These teams will build technology demonstration (TD) aircraft with flight tests starting in 2017," the Army said in a statement released to USNI News on Friday.

The two prototype aircraft will be built and flown as part of the Joint Multi Role Technology Demonstrator Air Vehicle effort—which will inform the Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program to replace the long-serving Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64E Apache.

The FVL program will also inform the US Navy's MH-XX program to replace the MH-60 Seahawk.

"The intent of the JMR TD effort is to maximize the knowledge gain and risk reduction toward an anticipated Future Vertical Lift acquisition program," said Dan Bailey, the Army's JMR/FVL program director.
"The baseline strategy based on the current funding allocation requires descope from the four initial designs to two for build and flight test."

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fnews.usni.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F10%2FBell-V280.jpg%3Fresize%3D625%252C216&hash=e33c7474c180e7d7063a06a909f76db308a50e27)
Bell-V2280

Two other teams led by Karem Aircraft and AVX Aircraft were not selected for continued development, but the service is still interested in their technologies.
"The Army will seek to continue technology development efforts with those teams based on resources and opportunities," the service said.

The Sikorsky-Boeing entry, called the SB-1 Defiant, is a compound helicopter design with co-axial rotors and a pusher-propeller. The aircraft is based on Sikorsky's revolutionary X-2 design that was designed to overcome the 200-knot speed limit of most helicopters as a result of a phenomenon called the dissymmetry of lift.

The Bell Helicopter design, which is called the V-280 Valor, is an advanced tilt-rotor design that is based upon technology similar to the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey. The new tilt-rotor is smaller, faster and much more maneuverable than the Osprey and has a top speed of over 300 knots.

The rejected AVX design was a compound helicopter design similar to the Defiant. Meanwhile, the rejected Karem proposal was a variable-speed tilt-rotor similar to the Bell entry.

http://news.usni.org/2014/10/03/u-s-army-selects-bell-sikorskyboeing-build-prototypes-next-generation-helicopter-program
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 02/05/2015 | 20:14 uur
OPINION: Why US Army aviation plans are in a spin

Helicopter manufacturers, here is your challenge: build a machine that can pick up a critically wounded soldier at the top of a 6,000ft mountain on a hot day in July, dash at 220kt (407km/h) or faster to a medical ­facility hundreds of kilometres away, then land the vehicle easily in a blinding sandstorm while an onboard countermeasure system thwarts an incoming, state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile. And bonus points if you can make it do all those things without a pilot on board.

As you let that technological challenge sink in, you should be aware of a couple of small details. The world's largest helicopter operator may not be completely sold on the challenge, and the customer probably does not have the money to pay for it. This is the US Army and its Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme.

This may be the most technologically ambitious rotorcraft project ever to migrate from a laboratory curiosity into an approved acquisition effort. Two industry teams will begin building demonstrator aircraft in two years. A new engine design to support the project is already on the drawing board, and the date for starting low-rate initial production has been set.

Despite all of those positives, a sense of ­hopelessness hangs over the effort. And it is not just because all of the army's clean-sheet development projects for new combat helicopters have ended in disaster since the early 1980s (excluding the Airbus Helicopters LUH-72A Lakota, but that was a commercially-based design with no development required).

The army's resources are being stretched by the downturn in spending after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the supply of overseas contingency ­funding has shrivelled, the procurement budget of the army's aviation branch has plummeted by 40% in less than three years. But its wish list of procurement ­priorities has only expanded. As future combat is more likely to involve urban canyons in megacities than open deserts or remote mountain hideouts, it feels compelled to seek better survivability systems and more advanced sensors.

Even if a series of FVL aircraft designs moves into production, the army must also somehow sustain the three current workhorses of its combat fleet – Boeing's AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook, and the Sikorsky UH-60 – until beyond 2060. Within about 10-15 years, planned engine upgrades for the UH-60 might allow a Black Hawk to pluck the wounded soldier off the mountain. It will not go as fast or as far as a notional FVL, but perhaps that will have to be good enough.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/opinion-why-us-army-aviation-plans-are-in-a-spin-410842/
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 02/05/2015 | 20:15 uur
Cash-strapped US Army aviation focuses on immediate needs

A futuristic fleet of speedier and more survivable rotorcraft are at least 15 years away, but US Army aviation officials are not willing to wait that long to start addressing a long list of perceived needs.

That stance has placed the aviation branch in the awkward position of attempting to both modernise the current fleet and develop an all-new family of replacement aircraft featuring breakthrough technology, while coping with a budget constrained by sequestration cuts.

"We want the new capability, but we can't afford it," says Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, technology and logistics, addressing the Army Aviation Association of America annual conference on 30 March.

The army plans to have the first operational unit of the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) fleet available in 2030. Two high-speed rotorcraft concepts – the tiltrotor Bell Helicopter/Lockheed Martin V-280 and coaxial-compound, rigid-rotor Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 – are being developed for the joint multi-role technology demonstration (JMR-TD), which is expected to help the army shape requirements for FVL.

In the meantime, the army aviation branch has a long list of priorities for modernizing an existing combat helicopter fleet of Sikorsky UH-60s, Boeing AH-64s and Boeing CH-47s.

The army wants the aviation branch available to operate anywhere at any time. The current fleet includes three of the most capable military helicopters in any fleet, but they still have limitations, says Major Gen Michael Lundy, commanding general of the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence.

"Right now, we can't fly and fight in all environments," Lundy says. "We don't have the [engine] power we need."

In response, the army is funding the improved turbine engine programme (ITEP), an all-new 3,000shp engine to replace the 2,000shp GE Aviation T700 powering both the AH-64 and UH-60. GE and ATEC, a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and Honeywell, are competing to win the ITEP development contract.

But ITEP also highlights the funding tension between modernising and replacing the army's current fleet. The FVL fleet demands a much larger engine in the 6,000shp-class, so the army has launched the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) programme, but it is not clear if both projects can move forward if Congress does not repeal the sequestration budget policy.

The army also wants to accelerate a programme to develop technology that can allow a helicopter to land in a "brown-out" conditions, Lundy says. The branch also needs to link its combat aircraft with ground troops by installing the soldier networking waveform across the fleet, he says. Aircraft survivability also must be improved to cope with an increasingly capable of generation of shoulder-fired missiles.

"If it's a new [threat] we've got to be able to rapidly adapt to that," Lundy says. "We're too slow right now. That's an issue."

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/cash-strapped-us-army-aviation-focuses-on-immediate-410730/
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 15:18 uur
h

Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: 5m@sh_1up op 03/05/2015 | 17:02 uur
Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:13 uur
Citaat van: 5m@sh_1up op 03/05/2015 | 17:02 uur
Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.

Een al eerder geplaats artikel in dit topic, een andere kandidaat....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2681074/Is-US-Armys-generation-superchopper-Radical-design-dual-tilting-blades-travel-50-faster-Black-Hawk.html#ixzz36a9O7ZT4
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 17:42 uur
Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:13 uur
Een al eerder geplaats artikel in dit topic, een andere kandidaat....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2681074/Is-US-Armys-generation-superchopper-Radical-design-dual-tilting-blades-travel-50-faster-Black-Hawk.html#ixzz36a9O7ZT4

die gaat jammer genoeg niet worden.

Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 17:47 uur


Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:51 uur
Citaat van: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 17:42 uur
die gaat jammer genoeg niet worden.

Al afgeschoten?
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 17:53 uur
Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:51 uur
Al afgeschoten?

Zie posting #29
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:56 uur
Citaat van: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 17:53 uur
Zie posting #29

Duidelijk... jammer, ik zie graag een competitie, moge de beste winnen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 03/05/2015 | 18:04 uur
Citaat van: 5m@sh_1up op 03/05/2015 | 17:02 uur
Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.
klinkt aannemelijk..ben benieuwd hoe Sikorsky hierop reageert....
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 18:05 uur
Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 03/05/2015 | 17:56 uur
Duidelijk... jammer, ik zie graag een competitie, moge de beste winnen.

Er wordt ook een competitie gehouden tussen de Bell Lockheed-Martin V280 Valor tilt rotor helicopter en de Sikorsky Boeing SB1 Defiant Helicopter dat staat in posting #29
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 03/05/2015 | 18:37 uur
Citaat van: 5m@sh_1up op 03/05/2015 | 17:02 uur
Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.

Misschien zie je het zo beter?

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.flugrevue.de%2Fsixcms%2Fmedia.php%2F11%2Fthumbnails%2FSB-1-Defiant-2014.jpg.4861426.jpg&hash=104dd21f698d04a1b3fb2b3942e774d415fef60a)
Sikorsky Aircraft Boeing SB-1 Defiant

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fglobalaviationreport.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F07%2Fbell-v280-5-857x534.jpg%3Fw%3D640%26amp%3Bh%3D398&hash=7aa7f2fc4d245623dda7441cfdec937eca1e96b4)
Bell Lockheed-Martin V280 Valor tilt rotor
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: 5m@sh_1up op 04/05/2015 | 09:47 uur
Op dat plaatje lijkt de propellor zelfs nog veel kwetsbaarder. Bij landingen in stoffige omgevingen probeer je de snelheid zo lang mogelijk erop te houden bij een landing, zodat je vóór de stofwolk uitblijft. Echter wil je wel met zo min mogelijk snelheid de grond raken, omdat je niets meer ziet en je niet weet of er obstakels op de grond zijn, of simpelweg omdat de landing site erg krap is. Wat je dus doet is een progressieve approach met de neus omhoog om de snelheid op het laatste moment eruit te halen. Neus omhoog = staart omlaag. Dat betekent dus niet alleen dat die propellor dicht bij de grond komt, maar alle rotzooi op de grond dat heen en weer gegooid wordt door het hoofdrotor systeem, gaat ook naar achteren langs de propellor.

Ook daarom zijn de Chinook en Blackhawk briljant ontworpen met het achterste landingsgestel zo ver mogelijk naar achteren, geeft je betere landingsmogelijkheden.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 04/05/2015 | 10:27 uur
Ik heb ooit ..25 jaar geleden ofzo...ook toen al druk bezig met defensie en materiaal...een schets gemaakt van een aangepaste Apache met een ombouwde duw-propeller en dubbele hoofdrotor. Zeg maar een mix tussen de Apache, de Sikorsky S-69 en de Piasecki X-49 "Speed Hawk" (zie foto). Mogelijk dat die ombouw gebruikt werd/wordt om de schade te beperken van opkomend materiaal bij een landing?! Ik kan me bijna niet voorstellen dat Sikorsky daar ook geen rekening mee houdt. Kan het zijn dat de propellerbladen van hun model zo sterk zijn tegenwoordig dat ze dit aan kunnen?

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwingsoveriraq.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F06%2F101110_piasecki_01.jpg&hash=fffbb444db36f70912c883894c4f9e7054060344)
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 04/05/2015 | 11:19 uur
Citaat van: 5m@sh_1up op 04/05/2015 | 09:47 uur
Op dat plaatje lijkt de propellor zelfs nog veel kwetsbaarder. Bij landingen in stoffige omgevingen probeer je de snelheid zo lang mogelijk erop te houden bij een landing, zodat je vóór de stofwolk uitblijft. Echter wil je wel met zo min mogelijk snelheid de grond raken, omdat je niets meer ziet en je niet weet of er obstakels op de grond zijn, of simpelweg omdat de landing site erg krap is. Wat je dus doet is een progressieve approach met de neus omhoog om de snelheid op het laatste moment eruit te halen. Neus omhoog = staart omlaag. Dat betekent dus niet alleen dat die propellor dicht bij de grond komt, maar alle rotzooi op de grond dat heen en weer gegooid wordt door het hoofdrotor systeem, gaat ook naar achteren langs de propellor.

Ook daarom zijn de Chinook en Blackhawk briljant ontworpen met het achterste landingsgestel zo ver mogelijk naar achteren, geeft je betere landingsmogelijkheden.

Overigens gebruikt Kamov deze techniek ook.



Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 04/05/2015 | 11:39 uur
Citaat van: Ace1 op 04/05/2015 | 11:19 uur
Overigens gebruikt Kamov deze techniek ook.
...
the difference is in the details... Sikorsky gebruikt itt Kamov zeer stijve rotorbladen..waardoor de afstand tussen beide rotors verkleind kan worden. Zijn ze er al decennia mee bezig..en nu blijkbaar rijp genoeg voor operationeel gebruik. Ik vond het een interessante opzet...had ook gevoel dat die het zou gaan worden..maar door 5m@sh_1up kritische noten nu weer twijfels. Het tilt-rotor concept is immers ook al een heel stuk verder ontwikkeld..
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: 5m@sh_1up op 04/05/2015 | 15:59 uur
Bij die Kamov toestellen is volgens mij gebleken dat het coaxiale rotorsysteem verschrikkelijk onderhoudsgevoelig is.
En in ieder geval bij de Ka-50/52 is het bij bepaalde manoeuvres mogelijk dat de rotorsystemen elkaar raken. Gelukkig heeft ie ook ejection seats...
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Oldenhave op 04/05/2015 | 16:28 uur
Wat ik als leek vooral zie in deze twee ontwerpen van Bell en Boeing is: Veel te ingewikkelde en gevoelige technologie voor wat een simpel doch sterk werkpaard als de Blackhawk moet vervangen en een veel te troop transport set-up om een dedicated aanvalsheli als de Apache te vervangen. Blijkbaar heeft de US Army weinig interesse in de kritiek die de USAF krijgt op de JSF: A jack of all trades is a master of none. Ik ben ook zeer bang dat de aantallen in de US Army helikoptervloot met één van deze toestellen ook significant zal dalen, terwijl het juist de grote aantallen zijn die een sterkte zijn van de Amerikanen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: dudge op 04/05/2015 | 16:41 uur
Citaat van: Oldenhave op 04/05/2015 | 16:28 uur
Wat ik als leek vooral zie in deze twee ontwerpen van Bell en Boeing is: Veel te ingewikkelde en gevoelige technologie voor wat een simpel doch sterk werkpaard als de Blackhawk moet vervangen en een veel te troop transport set-up om een dedicated aanvalsheli als de Apache te vervangen. Blijkbaar heeft de US Army weinig interesse in de kritiek die de USAF krijgt op de JSF: A jack of all trades is a master of none. Ik ben ook zeer bang dat de aantallen in de US Army helikoptervloot met één van deze toestellen ook significant zal dalen, terwijl het juist de grote aantallen zijn die een sterkte zijn van de Amerikanen.

Tsja, niet nieuw in de US. Zie ook #30.
Ze hoeven ook niet naar de Air force te kijken.

Hebben miljarden uitgegeven aan de Commanche, vervolgens aan de ARH-70, die al héél wat minder vooruitstrevend was, toen de OH58F en nu wordt het hele concept maar geschrapt teneinde de Apache upgrades te kunnen betalen.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: 5m@sh_1up op 04/05/2015 | 17:23 uur
Inderdaad Oldenhave! De spijker op z'n kop.

Succesvolle types zoals de Apache, Blackhawk en Chinook moeten gewoon doorontwikkeld worden. De ontwerpen zijn gewoon steengoed en betrouwbaar, en niet onbelangrijk: combat-proven.

Ik zou zeggen, zet op de toekomst in op het verbeteren van die types. Betere drivetrains, betere motoren, betere avionics, betere communicatie systemen, meer integratie op het digitale slagveld. Dan pas ben je goed bezig. Bij die prototypes zoals in dit topic krijg ik maar een naar gevoel.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 04/05/2015 | 17:51 uur
Ik vind het typerend dat beide modellen een rompvorm hebben die welhaast een kopie lijkt van die van de Blackhawk. Het gaat dus in feiten vooral om een andere aandrijfvorm...met doel sneller en verder te kunnen vliegen. Bij het Amerikaanse korps Mariniers heeft die behoefte...ingevuld via de MV22.. een specifieke reden..namelijk vanaf grotere afstand (door groeiende bereik antischeepsraketten) vanaf amfibische landingsschepen zo snel mogelijk het achterland van een landingslocatie bereiken en veilig stellen.

Heeft deze army-behoefte ook zo'n reden? Zo niet, dan lijkt mij zoals 5m@sh_1up stelt de verdere evolutie van bestaande transporthelikopters voldoende en verstandiger.

(Ik ben benieuwd hoe men dit hier in Europa gaat invullen..Airbus Helicopters kwam met de X3..maar verder kom ik weinig tegen* dan inderdaad die evolutionaire aanpak..nog betere rotorbladen..betere en sterkere motoren en materialen.. *Niet helemaal...X3 wordt doorontwikkeld naar H3 concept )
(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fawin.aviationweek.com%2FPortals%2FAWeek%2FAres%2FX3%2520utility%2520concept.jpg&hash=72233bfb781f2ce31000a4703c4b859ddcb900c5)
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Sparkplug op 04/05/2015 | 21:41 uur
Citaat van: Elzenga op 04/05/2015 | 17:51 uur
Ik vind het typerend dat beide modellen een rompvorm hebben die welhaast een kopie lijkt van die van de Blackhawk. Het gaat dus in feiten vooral om een andere aandrijfvorm...met doel sneller en verder te kunnen vliegen. Bij het Amerikaanse korps Mariniers heeft die behoefte...ingevuld via de MV22.. een specifieke reden..namelijk vanaf grotere afstand (door groeiende bereik antischeepsraketten) vanaf amfibische landingsschepen zo snel mogelijk het achterland van een landingslocatie bereiken en veilig stellen.

Heeft deze army-behoefte ook zo'n reden? Zo niet, dan lijkt mij zoals 5m@sh_1up stelt de verdere evolutie van bestaande transporthelikopters voldoende en verstandiger.
Dat de romp op die van de UH-60 Blackhawk lijkt, heeft mede te maken met de hoeveelheid troepen die de US Army per utility helikopterontwerp wil vervoeren. Voor hen moet de opvolger van de UH-60 net als de voorganger van deze (UH-1D/H) een squad kunnen vervoeren. Voor meer troepen gebruiken zij de CH-47 Chinook of de opvolger van deze (JMR-Heavy).

De USMC stelt weer andere eisen. Voor moest een MV-22 net zoveel troepen als de voorganger (CH-46) kunnen vervoeren.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 04/05/2015 | 21:59 uur
Citaat van: Sparkplug op 04/05/2015 | 21:41 uur
De USMC stelt weer andere eisen. Voor moest een MV-22 net zoveel troepen als de voorganger (CH-46) kunnen vervoeren.

Klopt en dat is het vreemde eraan de MV-22 is juist een veel groter dan een CH-46.

(https://www.defensieforum.nl/Forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stratpost.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2Ffootprint-370-x-309.jpg&hash=d33322cabddf33dcab665c140a8bb78da6007985)
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 22/05/2015 | 22:08 uur
Vraagstuk van de duwpropeller en grondeffect en rommel lijkt te zijn opgelost. De downwash is minder sterk plus de duwpropeller staat stil als er geland en opgestegen wordt vanaf grof terrein..

Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Sparkplug op 22/05/2015 | 22:53 uur
Citaat van: Elzenga op 22/05/2015 | 22:08 uur
Vraagstuk van de duwpropeller en grondeffect en rommel lijkt te zijn opgelost. De downwash is minder sterk plus de duwpropeller staat stil als er geland en opgestegen wordt vanaf grof terrein..
Er is in dit filmpje ook helemaal geen stof e.d. te zien. Naar mijn mening kan niet de conclusie worden getrokken dat de downwash minder sterk is.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Elzenga op 23/05/2015 | 12:43 uur
Citaat van: Sparkplug op 22/05/2015 | 22:53 uur
Er is in dit filmpje ook helemaal geen stof e.d. te zien. Naar mijn mening kan niet de conclusie worden getrokken dat de downwash minder sterk is.
Dat is wat de fabrikant zelf stelt...Je ziet wel waar steeds stof/rommel een rol kan spelen de duwpropeller uit staat...ben benieuwd hoe dit in de testen zal uitpakken.
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 23/05/2015 | 15:37 uur
Watch This Superfast Raider Helicopter Take Its First Flight / Sikorsky, the S-97 Raider

22.5.2015

http://www.popsci.com/watch-superfast-raider-helicopter-takes-first-flight
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 23/05/2015 | 15:59 uur




   

Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Ace1 op 23/05/2015 | 16:04 uur
Titel: Re:U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 26/05/2015 | 13:29 uur


Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER™ First Flight.
Our S-97 RAIDER™ helicopter successfully achieved its first flight at the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Fla today! Congratulations to Chief Pilot Bill Fell, Co-pilot Kevin Bredenbeck and the entire RAIDER team

Press Releases Details
​Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER™ Helicopter Achieves Successful First Flight


http://www.sikorsky.com/pages/AboutSikorsky/PressreleaseDetails.aspx?pressreleaseid=311

Titel: Re: U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 24/04/2018 | 08:48 uur
Sikorsky modifies Raider helicopter to use US Army's future engine

Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky has engineered its S-97 Raider coaxial experimental helicopter to use the U.S. Army's future engine in an attempt to present the aircraft as a strong and soon-to-be-ready contender for the Army's Future Vertical Lift family of aircraft expected to come online in the 2030s.

Raider will be able to accept either one or two of the Improved Turbine Engine Program engines from the start, which will also help support bringing ITEP to fruition, Chris Van Buiten, the company's vice president of technology and innovation, told Defense News in an interview.

"The engine in Raider is just a beautiful match," he said.

The Army is said to be on track to award a contract to one of two teams currently developing a future helicopter engine in late 2018. The service awarded contracts to two separate teams to design future engines to replace an enormous portion of the service's helicopters under the ITEP program. The Advanced Turbine Engine Company — a Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney team — was awarded a $154 million contract while GE Aviation was awarded a $102 million contract in August 2016.

ITEP is meant to replace every engine in both AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawks, and will provide both aircraft boosted capability from 3,000 horsepower to a 25 percent full-burn reduction.

It is also possible ITEP could be used in FVL aircraft, particularly in the lighter variant.

Raider currently flies with GE's YT706-GE-700R engine.

While the Army has been adamant that it plans to first procure a medium-lift helicopter within the FVL program, the service has recently signaled it is more open to considering a lighter aircraft early on in the program capable of attack reconnaissance.

The Army's largest aviation capability gap remains armed reconnaissance after the service decided to retire the OH-58D Kiowa and replace it with larger, more expensive AH-64 Apache attack helicopters teamed with Shadow unmanned aircraft systems.

Van Buiten believes there is a case for the Army to first procure a light helicopter, of which Raider fits perfectly, because of the critical gap left when the Kiowa was retired.

Apache filling the gap now is "a big airplane for the reconnaissance role mission. As forces get pushed back by rapid-reaction rocket-kind of threats and will have to execute at a greater radius, I think the Apache is going to start to struggle in that recon role and have a lot of time on station," he said.

Sikorsky and Boeing are actually building a larger version of Raider called the SB-1 Defiant, which fits in the medium-lift class, and will fly as part of an Army demonstration called the Joint Multi-Role program that aims to evaluate the capabilities of two separate advanced helicopter concepts as it tries to shape the requirements for an FVL aircraft.

Bell Helicopter has designed the second demonstrator — a tilt-rotor called the V-280 Valor — which has been flying since late 2017.

While there's a case to start with medium-lift, "you could argue that FVL light is just a smaller, lower-cost program," Van Buiten said. "It's hundreds of aircraft instead of thousands and might be a prudent way to get the ball rolling, get a win on the board, move FVL forward. It's kind of a good warmup for a larger FVL program, and the multimission capability of Raider can give them a lot of flexibility."

The Raider program experienced a setback last year when the helicopter sustained "substantial damage" from a hard landing during a flight test at the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, in early August 2017.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/aaaa/2018/04/20/sikorsky-modifies-raider-helicopter-to-use-us-armys-future-engine/
Titel: Re: U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 26/06/2018 | 08:37 uur
Pentagon eyes new 'knife fighter' helicopter

US Army leaders are moving forward with plans to develop and field a new attack reconnaissance helicopter and are shooting to have two prototypes in the air by 2023.

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/defence-helicopter/pentagon-eyes-new-knife-fighter-helicopter-prototy/
Titel: Re: U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 26/06/2018 | 09:28 uur
Uncertainty & Anxiety About Army's New Scout Aircraft

https://breakingdefense.com/2018/06/uncertainty-anxiety-about-armys-new-scout-aircraft/?_ga=2.62697196.1984000071.1529918055-855280167.1506406488
Titel: Re: U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter
Bericht door: Harald op 27/06/2018 | 09:28 uur
US Army requests Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft proposals

The US Army released a draft request for proposal for its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, a rotorcraft to replace a retired scout helicopter, according to new acquisition documents.

The Army plans to select two companies to build prototypes by the third quarter of 2020 and wants to see prototypes flying by 2023. By fiscal year 2024, the service wants to transition to a program of record.

The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) will be comparable in size to Future Vertical Lift Capability Set 1, a light-attack and scouting aircraft with a minimum internal payload of six passengers.The Army envisions FARA would be a manned rotorcraft that uses software automation to reduce pilot workloads and that has the ability to sustain a high operational tempo with extended maintenance free periods.

The aircraft would have autonomous capabilities, be able to team with unmanned systems and play the center piece role of an integrated air defense system breeching team. The air platform would be sized to hide in Radar clutter and within the urban canyons of mega cities.

"Army Aviation must operate in highly contested/complex airspace and degraded environments against peer/near peer adversaries capable of an advanced integrated air defense system," the Army wrote in its draft RFP. "This platform is the 'knife fighter' of future Army Aviation capabilities, a small form factor platform with maximized performance."

Currently, only a few clean-sheet rotorcrafts have the flight hours and performance to fulfill the Army's Capability Set 1 vision, including the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, Airbus Helicopters Eurocopter X³ and Leonardo AW609.

The S-97 is designed specifically to meet the Army's Capability Set 1 vision. It is a demonstrator platform designed to show the benefits of the advancing blade concept, a pair of rigid, contra-rotating co-axial rotors that allows the rotorcraft to fly at speeds above 200kt.

Airbus's compound helicopter, the Eurocopter X³, and Leonardo's tiltrotor, the AW609, are designed for the civilian markets, but could be re-purposed for a military scout role as was the Army's recently retired scout helicopter the Bell OH-58 Kiowa, which was based on the Bell 206A JetRanger.

The FARA represents a belated replacement plan for the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. The original OH-58A was fielded in 1968 as an interim replacement for the cancelled Hughes OH-6 Cayuse, but the army later cancelled the high-speed Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne as costs rose steeply. Three decades later, the army also cancelled the Sikorsky Boeing RAH-66 Comanche, denying other bid to replace the long-serving OH-58D.

An attempt to modify the Bell 407 into an armed reconnaissance helicopter failed in 2008 when the Army cancelled the contract. Subsequent plans to launch the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) acquisition programme also were scrapped by the Army. Finally, the OH-58D was retired without a direct replacement. The Army planned to fill the requirement for a scout aircraft by teaming the Boeing AH-64 Apache with the Textron AAI RQ-7 Shadow unmanned air system.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-army-requests-future-attack-reconnaissance-aircra-449750/