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The Piasecki Aircraft Vectored Thrust Ducted Propeller (VTDP) compound helicopter has completed final assembly and should begin flight tests at the Wilmington, Delaware International Airport in the first quarter of this year.  The heavily instrumented YSH-60F Seahawk has a vectoring tail thruster and compound wings to exceed 200 kt with reduced wear on dynamic components.  It will undergo ground testing over the next month prior to Phase One flight testing.  “The level of funding we have is going to allow us to do hover and lower-speed flight tests,” explains Piasecki vice president of contracts John W. Piasecki.  “We’re going to be stepping out in a systematic fashion.”

Piasecki Aircraft receives VTDP funding from the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate and will conduct flight tests under an FAA experimental airworthiness certificate.  The Naval Air Systems Command provides nominal support for the Navy test asset.  Phase One testing is restricted to current NATOPS performance for the Seahawk helicopter and will validate estimated performance against actual data.  Depending on funding, Phase Two will investigate propulsion and control performance in the high-speed regime.

The US Coast Guard plans flight tests of the prototype MH-60T Thunderhawk this June and will use the reclaimed SH-60F airframe to validate and verify the processes to upgrade its HH-60J Jayhawks to MH-60T standard.  The Thunderhawk upgrade gives the HH-60J cockpit the Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS), and integrates an upgraded electro-optical/infrared sensor and improved radar. (The Thunderhawk name was previously applied to Sikorsky S-70C(M) aircraft sold to the Republic of China.)  The first operational Coast Guard MH-60T will emerge from the Elizabeth City Aircraft Repair and Supply Center in February 2009.  Current plans give the Coast Guard 42 MH-60Ts by November 2013.

The MH-60T prototype dubbed Frankenrotor is a crash-damaged Navy SH-60F acquired to replace an HH-60J lost off Bogoslof Island, Alaska in December 2004.   It will be completed to full MH-60T standards by the summer of 2009.  While the Coast Guard has no firm plan to enlarge its Jayhawk/Thunderhawk fleet, it may acquire some of the 111 Navy SH-60Fs and HH-60Hs due to be retired over next nine years for spares or other purposes.

US Navy Plans Digital TH-57 Fleet

The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) expects to upgrade all of its Bell TH-57B and C training helicopters to a common TH-57D standard with a new digital cockpit by 2014. The modernized trainers will better prepare flight school students for operational Navy and Marine Corps rotorcraft, all of which are scheduled to have integrated “glass” cockpits by 2012. “We want to give them the flexibility to mimic what they’re going to be flying in the fleet,” explains NAVAIR program manager Capt. Win Everett. The fixed-wing T-6 Texan II of the new Joint Primary Aircraft Training System will also start all future Navy pilots in a digital cockpit.

TH-57 fleet logistics contractor L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace is due to select a digital cockpit avionics supplier this year, build a prototype in 2008, begin Low Rate Initial Production conversions in 2009, and undertake full-rate conversions in 2010. The Navy currently has 120 TH-57s at NAS Whiting Field, two at NAS Patuxent River, and six in desert storage. The upgrade will blend the TH-57B primary trainer and TH-57C instrument trainer into a single sub-type and upgrade schoolhouse simulators with the same cockpit hardware to maximize supply-chain savings.

Standardization on the TH-57D also promises significant savings in training costs. Student aviators now fly five Transition-Familiarization (TransFam) flights to advance from the TH-57B to the C. According to Captain Everett, “By going to a single type-model series, we eliminate TransFams and save $2.5 to $3 million a year, depending on the cost of fuel. . . . After doing this for more than four years, you’ll see a huge return on investment.”

With the modernization of Navy and Marine Corps rotorcraft fleets and the retirement of multi-seat jets, about two-thirds of all new US Navy pilots are rotary-wing rated. Training Wing Five now graduates about 525 helicopter pilots a year and will increase output to 625 per year by 2010. A new training cockpit built around two Multifunction Displays compatible with Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) can speed the transition of new pilots to operational units. Training Wing 5 already has 15 NVG-compatible TH-57s and will receive five more to give student pilots 10 hours of introductory NVG time. Fleet Replacement Squadrons provide another 10 hours NVG training to graduate more qualified pilots ready for combat deployments. Furthermore, a digitized training fleet can later add net-centric connectivity and other advanced capabilities for future training requirements.

The TH-57D cockpit upgrade will coincide with installation of a stick-shaking engine exceedance warning system and either cockpit/cabin airbags or energy-absorbing crewseats. “The TH-57 is a great training platform,” says Capt. Everett. “It’s actually cheaper to rebuild than buy new. We’ll get another 30 years out of them and look to replace them in the 2040 timeframe.”

L3 polled the Chief of Naval Air Training, Training Wing Five, and Fleet Replacement Squadrons to establish TH-57D cockpit requirements. NAVAIR manages the modernization program. According to Captain Everett, “We help them tailor it based on policy, economics, what we think is feasible. . . We take their requirement and make it a reality.”

Boeing Extends Longbow Blade

Boeing Mesa has built test specimens of a new AH-64D Apache Longbow Block III composite main rotor blade with a 6 in. radius extension. Block III program manager Scott Rudy explains, “We wanted some additional performance in terms of lift.” Though the new, longer blades have been subjected to fatigue testing, they will not fly until 2010. Mr. Rudy explains, “We could do it earlier than that, but it’s not required to do it early.” The first Low Rate Initial Production Block III AH-64 Apache Longbow will be delivered to the US Army in June 2011.

Boeing designed and flew Apache composite main rotor blades in 2003, primarily to trim Block III blade acquisition costs by 25% and life cycle costs by 50%. Improvements in payload and speed were secondary. The new, longer blades use the same high-efficiency airfoils and smaller swept tip and remain compatible with the existing AH-64 rotor head.

Other key Block III technologies have already been demonstrated successfully under Block III Risk Reduction contracts. To use an existing test stand, a scaled-down version of the 3,400 shp transmission of the Block III has verified the innovative split torque face gear design of the new gearbox. A full-size transmission will run in 2009.

The new Block III mission processor has already flown in prototype form, and a similar production version from EFW Elbit Systems will go to the Boeing systems integration lab later this year and fly in 2008.

Agusta Westland Flies First Norwegian NH90

The first NH90 helicopter for Norway flew at the AgustaWestland facility in Vergiate, Italy on December 20 and achieved 140 kt on its 25-minute first flight. Norway ordered six anti-submarine warfare and eight Coast Guard search and rescue NH90s in November 2001 with first deliveries scheduled for late 2005. Another 10 helicopters in search-and-rescue configuration are covered by contract option.

All the Norwegian NH90s will be powered by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RRTM322-01/9 turboshafts and equipped with a dual rescue winch, digital map generator, survival raft, and additional fuel tanks. Plans call for Norwegian Air Force crews to fly from Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates of the Norwegian Navy. The helicopters will carry acoustic sensors, weapons, and a datalink for their primary ASW mission and can be used for Anti Surface Warfare, logistics, Search and Rescue, and maritime law enforcement missions.

NHIndustries closed 2006 with 88 new NH90 orders and a backlog of 445 firm orders and 100 options from 18 armed forces of 14 countries. Spain ordered 45 NH90 - Tactical Transport Helicopters in December. The Spanish aircraft will be assembled at the new Eurocopter España facility located in Albacete.

Sikorsky Buys Poland’s PZL Mielec

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. agreed to buy a 100% stake in Polish aircraft maker PZL Mielec from the Polish government for a reported $84.32 million. The Warsaw Business Journal reports the deal will close in the first quarter of 2007, and the modernized factory will produce Black Hawk cabin components beginning in 2008. Sikorsky also intends to use the Polish facility to produce a new International Black Hawk for global customers.

PZL Mielec currently produces the M28 turboprop transport and maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the M18 piston-engined agricultural and firefighting aircraft, and the M26 piston-engined trainer. It employs about 1,500 people.

Work on the Sikorsky Aircraft X2 Technology demonstrator has slowed but not stopped at both Stratford, Connecticut and the Sikorsky-Schweizer facility in Elmira New York. “It’s right now not at the same intensity,” says Peter Grant, Sikorsky advanced programs manager, “but the intensity is in the activity planning for this year. We know that we’re going to fly this year and that’s all we can say.”

The X2 Technology demonstrator with its auxiliary propeller thruster integrates a suite of advanced technologies to cruise at 250 kt yet retain the hover efficiency of a helicopter. It was scheduled to fly in 2006, but supplier issues and current commitments forced Sikorsky to slow the accelerated program. “We found we were actually outpacing elements of our supply base,” explains Mr. Grant. “There were milestones we wanted to achieve for which we did not have the parts. We now have all those major components.”

Current contracts also took priority over the X2 Technology demonstrator. “Let’s keep in mind this is a 100% internally funded program. We have the freedom to make those decisions and focus on taking care of our existing customers.”

The thoroughly instrumented demonstrator began ground tests in November at the Schweizer facility. It uses one of the two LHTEC T800-LHT-801 turboshafts recovered from the second RAH-66 prototype. “LHTEC has been extremely supportive of this program,” says Mr. Grant. “They were right there with us during the ground runs.”

The advanced rotor blade design for the X2 demonstrator blends three airfoils and has achieved analytically a far better lift-to-drag ratio than the blades on the 1970s XH-59A Advancing Blade Concept aircraft. “We have not put the blades on, but they’re complete,” says Mr. Grant.

Sikorsky also concluded flight tests of the X2 fly-by-wire flight control system on a surrogate Schweizer 333. “What we got out of those flights was better than we hoped for,” says Mr. Grant. Program engineers adapted existing fly-by-wire hardware and qualified a triply redundant fly-by-wire system that needs no mechanical backup.

X2 rotor hub wind tunnel testing and analysis with computational fluid dynamics at the United Technologies Research Center have verified exceptionally low hub drag. “As you want to go faster, you better be thinking about drag,” says Mr. Grant. “Our packaging and fairing solution reduces coaxial main rotor hub drag to something like that on a single-main-rotor helicopter.”

The X2 Technology demonstrator uses a Moog active vibration control system from the UH-60M Black Hawk and incorporates control servos, hydraulic pumps, coolers, and a generator taken from the Sikorsky S-76, the S-92, and CH-53E.

The demonstrator will have a fully instrumented crewstation up front and provisions for a second cockpit in back. Alternatively, the rear cockpit space may be used for UAV electronics, additional fuel, or other equipment.

Phased ground testing to verify the main rotor, auxiliary propeller, flight control system still needs to be done before first flight. “We have some sub-system testing that needs to be completed,” says Mr. Grant. Initial flights of the X2 Demonstrator will be conducted at the Sikorsky-owned Schweizer facility where the aircraft was assembled. “This really is a Stratford and Elmira joint venture,” says Mr. Grant. “This really is a closely-knit effort.”

Bell Helicopter is finishing design work on the optimized TR-916 Eagle Eye Vertical Unmanned Air Vehicle (VUAV) in expectation of a US Coast Guard contract for two Engineering and Manufacturing Development examples around mid-year. “The airplane design is very mature,” says Bell deputy director of VUAV programs Peter Klein. “We’re as close as we can get to a production aircraft.” The first Coast Guard tilt rotor could fly around 24 months after contract award under shifting Deepwater modernization plans. Bell also intends to build another TR-918 demonstrator for US and international customers, says Mr. Klein, “but at this point I don’t have a schedule when we’ll get started on a new prototype.”

The company-funded TR-918 crashed last April after less than 10 flight hours when the flight termination safety system cut fuel to the Pratt & Whitney 200-55 engine. “We received a signal on the airborne receiver that activated the flight termination system, but we’ve not been able to determine the source of the signal,” explains Mr. Klein. A comprehensive investigation including the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board nevertheless validated the Eagle Eye vehicle. “We’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the design was sound, and that the aircraft was flying well,” says Mr. Klein.

Experience building the TR-918 meanwhile advanced the Coast Guard TR-916. “We got a tremendous amount of value out of the ‘918,” observes Mr. Klein. “We proved the tooling concept. We identified the best way to put the airplane together. We then put the aircraft together and achieved the tolerances we wanted for fit and function.”

Deepwater plans call for 69 TR-916s (tentatively designated RQ-10s) to operate from Coast Guard ships and shore bases. Production airframes will be built by Aurora Flight Sciences and completed at the Bell facilities in Fort Worth. A First Unit Equipped was scheduled for late 2006. However, Deepwater program slips leave the operational schedule in question. According to Mr. Klein, “That is a question that can best be answered by the Coast Guard at this point.” Team Eagle Eye including Bell Helicopter, AAI, Lockheed Martin, and Textron, remains in effect for the Coast Guard program.

The Eagle Eye uses tilting proprotor nacelles to transition from helicopter to fixed-wing airplane flight with speed and range greater than other VUAV concepts. Bell first flew the 7/8 scale TR-911X in 1992. A full-sized TR-916 is expected to exceed 200 kt cruise speed and 20,000 ft ceiling, and provide 5.5 hours endurance with a 200 lb payload. The TR-918 crashed with its nacelles tilted about 30 degrees from the vertical, and was leaving a hover to accelerate beyond 50 kt forward airspeed and complete the first phase of its flight test program. Compared with the TR-918 demonstrator, the optimized TR-916 Eagle Eye will be a more efficient design with better payload capability and a deck landing system.

Rheinmetal, SAGEM and Bell are teamed for French government studies applying Eagle Eyes to French army and navy requirements. The US Marine Corps has chosen fixed-wing Shadow UAVs pending a VUAV selection around 2010. “Bell is certainly interested in supporting the Marine Corps program,” says Mr. Klein. Thought Bell signed a commercial VUAV contract with Evergreen Helicopters, “The commercial applications of Eagle Eye are still to be explored,” says Mr. Klein. He adds, “There is a significant amount of interest around the world in Eagle Eye. I think ‘07 is going to be a positive year.”

Sikorsky Picks GE38 Engine For CH-53K

Sikorsky Aircraft has chosen the General Electric GE38-1B engine to power the new three-engined CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement helicopter. The 7,500 shp turboshaft is derived from the CFE738 commercial turbofan and T407 Navy turboprop. It mates a five-stage axial compressor with a single-stage centrifugal compressor and incorporates a low-emission annular combustor, two-stage gas generator turbine, and three-stage power turbine.

The new helicopter engine will be highly resistant to sand erosion and salt-water corrosion and promises stall-free operations throughout the Marine Corps operating environment. To reduce operating and support costs, the GE38-1B has 60% fewer parts than the GE T64 on all previous H-53s. New parts are also designed for longer component lives. The new helicopter engine also has a dual-channel Full Authority Digital Electronic Control system with advanced health monitoring functions. It promises excellent fuel efficiency and excess power to meet CH-53K mission requirements.

The first of four CH-53K Engineering Development Models is scheduled to fly in 2011. The Marines plan 156 new production K-models delivered from Fiscal 2014 to 2021 to revitalize the heavy lift fleet.  Marine Corps plans call for 156.  Sikorsky's three-engine CH-53K aircraft is designed to replace the CH-53E SUPER STALLION(tm) helicopter in the Marine Corps ' inventory, which is powered by GE' s T64 engine. The CH-53E is the largest, most powerful helicopter suited for marine operation in the world.

In April, the Department of Defense awarded Sikorsky a $3 billion System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract to oversee development, systems integration, testing and evaluation activities of the aircraft on a sole-source basis. The Initial Operating Capability (IOC) is scheduled for 2015.

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