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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0463.PDF
HELI-EXPO COLLABORATION Manufacturers seek USIOI partner Bid to recruit Bell Helicopters for new-version EH101 flounders as company focuses on reviving tiltrotor programmes AgustaWestland and Lockheed Martin are seeking a US partner for local promotion and production of the proposed USIOI version of the EH101 medium-lift helicopter. Efforts to bring Bell into the fold appear to have stalled, as the com pany focuses on putting the Bell/ Agusta BA609 and Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor programmes back on track. Lockheed Martin Systems Integ- ration-Owego last year agreed to support the USIOI - but any large orders from the US government will also require local production. "There will be other US entities, and we are working with Lockheed Martin to complete the team - a specialised manufacturing house may be needed, but, at the moment, there is no obvious part ner," says Giuseppe Orsi, Agusta Westland general manager. Bell is part of the consortium offering the EH 101 in Canada, and is a joint venture partner with Agusta in developing the AB139 and the BA609. Despite this, the Fort Worth- based manufacturer appears to be cool on the idea of backing the US101. "We have had no discus sions with AgustaWestland on the EH 101 except conceptually, and there are no discussions going on at the moment," says Bell chair man and president John Murphey. AgustaWestland is seeking to "Americanise" the US101 as much as possible, and to complete its local team quickly in order to com pete for pending US military requirements. This must be balanced by find ing a "credible" local partner that can "keep costs as low as possible", adds Orsi. Its options are limited though, with Sikorsky committed to the rival S-92, and Boeing to the larger CH-47 Chinook. The EH 101 is also competing for a Japanese military requirement for 14 airborne mine countermeasures and Antarctic support helicopters. AgustaWestland has an agreement in place for Kawasaki Heavy Ind ustries to produce the helicopter under licence, providing the order is large enough. "Fourteen is a number justifying a certain amount of production there," says Orsi. Meanwhile, AgustaWestland has declared 2001 a record sales year, booking orders for 173 helicopters, all but six of which were for export outside of Italy and the UK. The company is reporting pro jected revenues of $2.2 billion for 2001, which it claims is second only to Boeing Helicopters. UNMANNED SYSTEMS Schweizer in RQ-8 fight Schweizer Aircraft will work with Northrop Grumman to win new funding for the US Navy's heli copter-based RQ-8A Fire Scout ver tical take-off unmanned air vehicle (VTUAV), production of which has been zero-funded in the latest defence budget proposals. "There has been a lot of half- truths and misinterpretation of what has been happening," says company president Paul Schweizer, adding: "The fact is, the VTUAV is not dead, and we continue to pro vide LRIP [low rate initial produc tion] vehicles, as well as complet ing development and finishing flight test aircraft. We are working very hard to get funding into the 2003 budget." Changes are allied to RQ-8A im provement efforts by prime con tractor Northrop Grumman, which had planned to build systems for six production air vehicles. The follow-on production phase of the VTUAV programme was can celled this month to allow the navy to fund its participation in another Northrop Grumman UAV programme, the Global Hawk (Flight International, 12-18 Feb ruary). "Fire Scout has shown far more capability than the require ments called for. We're looking at significant international and domestic interest. I'm convinced it will be a programme that will go on," adds Schweizer. VTUAV accounted for 11% of Schweizer's $43.3 million sales in 2001, against a projected 8% of the $40.5 million forecast for this year. To boost civil production in the near-term, Schweizer plans a new fuel-injected engine development of the 300CB dubbed the -CBi. "Helicopter folks don't like a carbu rettor engine, so this will help elim inate the need for that, as well as improve throttle correlation. "All 300CBs from June 2002 will be fitted as standard with the injected engine, while a host of other upgrades will lie in the wings," he says. Improvements include auto matic engagement for ground over- speed protection, a low rotor-speed warning and, later, a new spline- shaft drive system to increase the time between overhaul to 4,000h. Schweizer is certificating chan ges to the 333, including a cargo- hook, sliding-seat option and forward looking infrared/search light. Others include pop-out floats, new engine mounts, control system tweaks and a large baggage compartment. KITS First mulf i-bladed options self- build rotorcraft to fly in public JAG Helicopter's $125,000 base-price kit helicopter is to make a first public flight at the Sun 'n' Fun fly-in, Florida, in April. The two-seat JAG 233, powered by a Rolls-Royce 250-C18 turboshaft, is the first kit with multi-blade options (three to eight main rotors), and can be assembled in 400h. The top price is $240,000, with blades averaging $11,000 each. The example (above) displayed at Heli-Expo has representative avion ics including a UPS Aviation Technologies MX20 large-screen display. WARRANTIES Robinson doubles coverage Robinson Helicopter will double the warranty on its R22 and R44 helicopters to two years from aircraft number 3,318 and 1,202 respectively. The mile stones come this year, with production running at one a day, mostly R44s, which made up 194 of 2001 deliveries. This could increase in "the spring as we pick up to where we were a year ago", says president Frank Robinson. The firm plans an R44 upgrade with an elastomeric main-rotor hinge by year-end. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 FEBRUARY 2002 11
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