"The $100 Billion Helicopter Dogfight" Topic

"The original story of David and Goliath took place on the ground, and involved five smooth stones. But there's a new airborne version of that ancient Biblical tale involving a pair of Davids battling three Goliaths—and a chance to land up to $100 USD billion in Pentagon business.

It's all because the Army is looking to revamp its helicopter fleet over the coming decades, replacing thousands of its trusted UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache choppers with something that can fly heavier, faster and further: the trifecta of flight. The industry heavyweights—Bell Helicopter and a Boeing-Sikorsky team—are in the running.

But so are two pipsqueaks: AVX Aircraft and Karem Aircraft…"

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Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

100 BILLIONS???…

ouch.

(thanks for the "heads up", Armand!)

Wow I knew the US dollar was depreciating quickly as the government were producing lorry loads of money out of thin air and calling it Quantative easing but one hundred billion!

No mention my friend! (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

The Karem and Bell proposals are almost certainly dead. The Army doesn't like tilt-rotors.

My money is on the Boeing-Sikorsky and/or AVX models. Coaxial rotors and pusher props.

My money is on the program being cancelled after we spend a few billion on R&D.

After all, we still have Sea Knights and Hueys in service…
-Kle.

Sea Knights (and CH53Ds) are getting replaced by MV22 Ospreys.

The current UH1Y Hueys don't bear much resemblance in the important parts to the original 1960 design. Sure, overall airframe is similar, but the airframe on a helo is almost completely non-structural. The UH1Y and AH1Z have more in common with Bell 412s than the original Bell 204, and even then the 'Yankee Huey' is very different. Starting with better than double the originally installed horsepower of the UH1, and nearly double that of a Bell 412 (2x 1546 continuous hp or 1825hp for a 2.5min emergency versus 2x900hp)!

The UH1Ys are also brand new construction.

But that's the Marines, not the US Army. Army doesn't have V22s or H53Es to haul big stuff.

Great to see some new designs finally being pushed.

"Wow I knew the US dollar was depreciating quickly as the government were producing lorry loads of money out of thin air and calling it Quantative easing but one hundred billion!".

Just pocket-change, since the Fed is pumping almost that EVERY month into the stock market (approximately 1 Trillion per year).

Of course, few mention that "minor" detail when touting the new stock market highs every week.

We now deal in TRILLIONS, since even hundreds of billions are rather inconsequential, with 18 Trillion in debt.