Lockheed Martin's US101, better known in Europe as the AgustaWestland EH101 and winner of the prestigious US Navy VXX presidential helicopter competition, has been officially designated the VH-71A. As the last helicopter to receive an official US military designation was AgustaWestland's A109, operated by the US Coast Guard as the MH-68A Enforcer, that begs the question "what happened to the H-69 and H-70?". An informative website, www.designation-systems.net, may have the answer. In its section on missing US Department of Defense designations, the website speculates that H-69 has not been assigned because of its sexual overtones, while H-70 may have been skipped to avoid confusion with Sikorsky's S-70 - the export version of the H-60 family. The US101, meanwhile, is competing for the US Air Force's CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue requirement. If it wins, it will presumably become the MH-71B.
http://www.designation-systems.net
Technorati tag: helicopter
on February 28, 2006 5:53 AM | Reply
Your comments have been poorly researched. The H-69 was omitted because of the sexual connertations and the H-70 is the Bell "ARH" Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter which will replace the OH-58 Kiowa. Check here on the same site you point out, under "H-69"
Ben Haverdee