Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) is the at least five-year-old concept to develop a new rotorcraft with the power to carry roughly the same payload as the Airbus A400M. It would be at least 50% larger than the Mi-26, the largest production helicopter in history.
The American Helicopter Society now says the US Congress wants to kill it before it really even starts (although the concept has been worked on since at least 2003).
Here's the letter that the AHS sent to the leaders of the Congressional appropriations and authorization committees. It's basically a last-minute appeal from a death row inmate to the governor for a stay of execution.
FY08ReprogramRequest.pdf
The American Helicopter Society now says the US Congress wants to kill it before it really even starts (although the concept has been worked on since at least 2003).
Here's the letter that the AHS sent to the leaders of the Congressional appropriations and authorization committees. It's basically a last-minute appeal from a death row inmate to the governor for a stay of execution.
FY08ReprogramRequest.pdf
on September 10, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply
My gosh Congress sometimes has an incredible lack of vision. If programs like JHL or DARPA's Walrus initiative went through, it would fundamentally give the US military transformational capabilities.