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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0801.PDF
Cover story Like the Chinook upgrade, MH-60 improve ments rely on broader US Army upgrades The CAAS cockpit upgrade provides common ality across MH-6, MH-47 and MH-60 flight symbology, TA/TF and offboard data, such as video from an unmanned air vehi cle. There will be a split-screen capability top and bottom for multiple displays, as well as night-vision goggle compatibility. Putting it to the test Flight testing of CAAS is scheduled to begin this August, employing the first modified MH-47G, together with an MH-60L and MH-60K representative of the two Black Hawk versions in army SOF ser vice. Some of the system installation is being done under contract by L-3 Communications at the US Army's Blue Grass depot in Kentucky. Initial MH-47G deliveries to the the 160th SOAR are due to begin next year and run through to 2009. They are expected to keep the Chinook at the forefront of special operations for 20 years after that. The MH-60M modernisation, like that of the MH-47G, is designed to leverage to an extent off the US Army's much larger UH-60M upgrade programme. The 160th SOAR operates two versions of the medium helicopter, the older MH-60L with a similar generation cockpit to MH-47D, and a smaller fleet of more capable MH-60Ks equipped with external fuel tanks, multi- mode radar and an aerial refuelling probe. The plan is to bring the combined fleet of 69 machines up to common configuration and increase the number of helicopters to 96 machines. While the UH-60M and MH-60M will both go to full glass cockpits and use the same Rockwell Collins-supplied MFDs, the US Army chose Sikorsky as its system inte grator and opted for only four displays in a horizontal landscape configuration for the UH-60M. The MH-60M cockpit, on the other hand, will closely resemble that of the MH-47G. The army explains that its layout presents less of an obstruction to a pilot's view out of the cockpit and the dis plays should prove easier to scan from side to side. According to Sikorsky UH-60M pro gramme manager Brad Peterson, the two helicopters will enjoy a high degree of structural and dynamic commonality. This will include use of the same main gearbox, active vibration control, engine infrared suppression, wide chord blades, new-build cabin fuselage and electromagnetic inter ference hardening of wiring. However, there will be a number of notable excep tions where the MH-60M will differ. An increase in power The SOAR plans to go to a completely composite tail cone and horizontal sta biliser to improve the centre of gravity range on its Black Hawks, which operate at higher gross weight and have considerably more aft-mounted self-protection equip ment than the UH-60A/Ls. There is also interest in fitting the MH-60M with a more powerful engine than the l,485kW (l,995shp) General Electric T700-701D now earmarked for the UH-60M. The SOAR has looked at two different options, both in the l,860kW class - the GE CT7-8 now powering the Sikorsky S-92 and the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322. R-R has been eagerly promoting the RTM322 to different branches of the US military as a lower-cost alternative to investment in the proposed new Common Engine Programme. "We have flown the RTM322 on the H-60 and we know it fits and that there are no integration prob lems. It delivers significantly more power and better reliability than the T700. We're continuing to have discussions with the SOF, who need an additional hot/high per formance margin," says Stuart Mullin, R-R president helicopter programmes. Completing the troika of army SOF heli copters is the MH-6J light transport and AH-6J armed variant of the Little Bird fam ily, which traces its heritage back to the OH-6 Cayuse scout. Rockwell Collins hopes to begin work this year on develop ing a scaled-down CAAS suite for the upgraded MH/AH-6M, based around two MFDs in place of the present electronic flight instruments. Initial fielding is tar geted for 2005. The SOAR'S fleet of 45 Little Birds is, meanwhile, receiving an incremental pack age of improvements, including a new six- bladed main rotor, a canted four-bladed tail rotor for better manoevrability and reduced noise signature, an uprated R-R 250-C30 turboshaft and 450kW main transmission and a structural strengthen ing allowing the gross weight to be increased to 2,367kg (5,2101b). • 34 8-14 APRIL 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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