Boeing's Little Bird design team is based in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. The aircraft's chances for winning the US Army's armed reconnaissance helicopter contract have also been revived, Phoenix-like, thanks to the termination in October of the Bell Helicopter ARH-70 contract.
So when Boeing needed a name for its most likely offering for the ARH order, guess what they picked?
Tomorrow, Boeing will introduce the AH-6S Phoenix at the AUSA Army Aviation conference in Arlington, Va. The "S" is for "stretched".
The aircraft would include:
So when Boeing needed a name for its most likely offering for the ARH order, guess what they picked?
Tomorrow, Boeing will introduce the AH-6S Phoenix at the AUSA Army Aviation conference in Arlington, Va. The "S" is for "stretched".
The aircraft would include:
- AH-64 Block III-derived technologies, such as composite main rotor blade and cockpit suite
- 15-inch plug, useful for extracting downed air crew
- a "pointy" nose, for storing avionics boxes in the nose thereby making the cabin more roomy
- Uprated Rolls-Royce Model 250-CE30 engines and improved tail rotor
- Common sensor payload
on January 8, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply
So just how does one go about extracting downed air crew with a 15-inch plug?