Speaker: Keith Flail, – EVP Advanced Vertical Lift Systems, Bell Textron Inc.
When: Check-in 5:30 PM, Dinner 6:15 PM, Speaker at 7 PM
Where: Oronoque Country Club

Hello everyone,

The Vertical Flight Society Stratford Chapter will be holding our November in-person dinner event. Keith Flail, Bell Flight’s EVP of Advanced Vertical Lift Systems, will be our speaker. Please email @Ahsan, Sadat H (US) or vfs.stratford.sec@gmail.com to RSVP for the event!

FYI we are back at Oronoque! Hope to see you there!

What: VFS Stratford Chapter November In-Person Dinner / Speaker Event

Speaker: Keith Flail, – EVP Advanced Vertical Lift Systems, Bell Textron Inc.

When: Thursday, November 17^th, 2022 / Social hour begins at 5:30 PM / Dinner at 6:15 PM / Speaker at 7 PM

Where: Oronoque Country Club, 385 Oronoque Ln, Stratford, CT 06614

Cost: See flyer, RSVP with vfs.stratford.sec@gmail.com or with @Ahsan, Sadat H (US)

The Bell OH-58A Kiowa was the second of two Light Observation Helicopters (LOHs) ordered by U.S. Army for reconnaissance during the Vietnam War and entered service in 1969.  About 2,200 A-model Kiowas were delivered with 317 shp Allison T63-A-700 engines.  A portion of the fleet was upgraded to OH-58C standards with more powerful -720 engines and equipment changes starting in 1979.  The Army Helicopter Improvement Program (AHIP) begun the same year launched OH-58D remanufacturing in 1981, introducing a four-bladed composite main rotor, Mast-Mounted Sight (MMS), digital “glass” cockpit, and Automatic Target Handover System.  The unarmed Kiowa Aeroscout entered service in 1986 and subsequently evolved to the armed OH-58D Kiowa Warrior now in the fleet and the improved OH-58F currently in flight test.

The OH-58D with MMS and initial Honeywell Control Display System (CDS-1) was designed to locate and laser-designate targets from defilade for artillery and attack helicopters.  Operation Prime Chance armed select aircraft with Hellfire and Stinger missiles, 70 mm rockets, and 0.50 caliber machine guns to fly from US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf around 1989.  The weapons were integrated with monochrome displays for the broader fleet in CDS2, and the Kiowa Warrior went to war in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  The Republic of China received 26 OH-58Ds with CDS2 cockpits starting in 1993. CDS3 with twin Master Control Processor Units appeared in 1996, and a Safety Enhancement Program begun at Bell in 1998 standardized all OH-58Ds on CDS4 with an Improved MCPU.

OH-58A-to-D conversions initially concluded in 1999, but the Kiowa Warrior proved especially valuable in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.  Wartime attrition reduced the OH-58D fleet to around 330 aircraft, short of current Army requirements. Bell and the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) are consequently rebuilding battle-damaged OH-58Ds, reclaiming OH-58A fuselages for D-model conversion, and building new OH-58D War Replacement Aircraft to replenish the fleet.

The cancellation of the RAH-66 Comanche armed scout helicopter led the Army to select the Bell ARH-70 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) as a replacement.  When rising costs killed the Arapaho ARH in 2008, the Army formulated an OH-58D Life Support 2020 program to enhance Kiowa Warrior availability and trim operating costs.  In 2009, the Army itself began integrating a Cockpit And Sensor Upgrade (CASUP) that turns OH-58Ds into OH-58Fs with longer-ranged sensors, intuitive color displays, and a more powerful avionics architecture to integrate Aircraft Survivability Equipment and other systems.  The Mast Mounted Sight gives way to a modern, chin-mounted Raytheon AN/AAS-53 Common Sensor Payload shared with the Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS.  The chin-mounted sensor is better positioned for urban combat and provides modest weight and drag reductions.

The first OH-58F built in an Army Prototype Integration Facility flew on April 30, 2013.  Full Rate Production deliveries from the Corpus Christi Army Depot are scheduled from 2017 to 2025 to give the Army a fleet of 368 OH-58Fs.  The US Army meanwhile continues studies of an Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) with superior high-and-hot performance.  The Bell Xworx flew a company-owned Kiowa Warrior Block II demonstrator in 2011 with the commercial Model 407 transmission and main rotor, and a wide-chord Model 427 tail rotor.  The 970 shp Honeywell HTS 900 turboshaft in the first demonstrator was inherited from the Arapaho. The second Block II demonstrator uses the 650 shp Rolls Royce T703-AD-700A engine of the OH-58F.

The AH-1Z now in full rate production is the latest iteration of the US Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopter and shares avionics, dynamics, engines, and structures with the UH-1Y utility helicopter to reduce expeditionary supply, maintenance and training burdens in mixed light attack squadrons.  The Marines first received Navy approval to buy the Bell Cobra in 1967, the same year the US Army took the two-seat, two-bladed, single-engine attack helicopter to war in Vietnam.  Delivery of 38 Marine AH-1Gs with the 1,400 shp Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft started in 1969.  The success of the 9,500 lb AH-1G in Vietnam soon led to the twin-engined AH-1J SeaCobra with a coupled 1,800 shp T400-CP-400 power pack from United Aircraft of Canada.  Bell ultimately built 69 marinized AH-1Js for the Marine Corps between 1970 and 1975 and delivered AH-1Js to the Imperial Iranian Air Force and the Republic of Korea.

The 10,000 lb AH-1J was armed initially with only a 20 mm cannon and unguided rockets.  The need for a standoff missile and greater aircraft endurance led to the 14,000 lb AH-1T SeaCobra first delivered in 1977 with a 1,970 shp Canadian Pratt & Whitney  T400-WV-402 Twin Pac and two-bladed broad-chord main rotor.  Of 59 AH-1Ts built, most were retrofitted with the Hughes TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) missile capability after delivery.  Bell flew twin General Electric T700 turboshafts on an AH-1T demonstrator in 1980 and productionized the AH-1T+ in 1983 with 3,250 shp installed power from twin T700-GE-401 engines. The production AH-1W could carry TOW and laser-designated Hellfire missiles, 70 mm rockets, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the 20 mm cannon, and an Elbit-Kollsman Night Targeting System (NTS).  AH-1Ws in Operation Iraqi Freedom used both types of missiles for direct and indirect fire engagements.   The Marines took delivery of 204 converted and new-production AH-1W SuperCobras from 1986 to 1996.  The Republic Of China Army Air Force received 42 AH-1Ws and the Turkish Land Forces 10 SuperCobras.

With a four-bladed main rotor, uprated dynamics, and integrated avionics,  the 18,500 lb AH-1Z first flew in 2000 but did not complete Operation Evaluation until 2010.  In strike missions on early sea deployments in 2011,  two Zulu Cobras proved able to carry the ordnance of four AH-1Ws and could engage targets at far greater standoff ranges.  The Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-30 Target Sight System (TSS) with mid-wave infrared, color TV, laser designator/rangefinder, laser spot tracker.  Thales Optimized Top Owl helmets include Head-Up Displays with day or night monocles used alone and in conjunction with standard Night Vision Goggles.   The AH-1Z achieved Initial Operational Capability and started combined sea deployments with the UH-1Y in 2011. The Hellfire-armed attack helicopter has identical front and rear cockpits built around a Northrop Grumman Integrated Avionics System with color Multi-Function Displays, sidestick controls,  and helmet-mounted displays.  By early 2013, the Marines had 29 AH-1Zs.  Under current plans, Bell will remanufacture 131 AH-1Ws to AH-1Zs and build-new 58 Zulu Cobras delivered by Fiscal 2020.  Near-term improvements for the new Marine attack helicopter focus on digital connectivity to stream video  between the Zulu crew and Forward Air Controllers.

The US Army issued an Advanced Attack Helicopter (AAH) Request For Proposals in November  1972 and in December 1976 named the Hughes Model 77 or YAH-64 the winner of the AAH  competition. Hughes Helicopters, subsequently McDonnell Douglas Helicopters and today  Boeing Vertical Lift produced AH-64A Apaches from 1984 to 1994. The heavily armed,  ballistically tolerant, day/night attack helicopter became operational with US Army units in  1986 and saw its first combat deployment in Panama in 1989. By mid-1994, the US Army had  over 700 AH-64As in 35 active duty and National Guard battalions based in the continental    United States, Germany, and the Republic of Korea. By the end of AH-64A production, the basic  Apache had also been delivered to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and  Greece.
Apache improvement studies began even before the AH-64A entered full-rate production, and the Army awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglas in 1988 to start an Apache Multi-Stage Improvement Program (MSIP). The AH-64A with General Electric T700-GE-701 engines, Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) Target Acquisition and Designation Sight and Pilot Night Vision Sensor (TADS/PNVS), and AGM-114 Hellfire laser-designated missiles proved notably effective against Iraqi forces in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The notional AH-64B with navigation and connectivity enhancements was outpaced by technical advances, but AH-64A+ production enhancements included -701C engines, wire strike protection, more electromagnetic hardening, and RAM (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability) improvements.
AH-64D Block I Apache Longbow modernization gave the attack helicopter a Northrop Grumman mast-mounted millimeter wave fire control radar able to distinguish tracked, wheeled, air defense, and airborne targets at long-range and in adverse weather. (The AH-64C designation for aircraft without radar was abandoned in 1994.) The Block I AH-64D fielded in 1997 also integrated “glass cockpits” with tactical displays, an Improved Data Modem, and over-the-horizon radios. The first Apache Longbow multi-year production contact rebuilt 284 AH-64As as Block I AH-64Ds for the U.S. Army. The UK Army acquired 69 similar WAH-64s built by Westland with Rolls Royce RTM322 engines.
Block II AH-64Ds introduced color cockpit displays and T700-GE-701D engines with more power and greater durability. Block II also introduced improved mission display processors and a new optical fiber channel bus 1,000 times faster than the MILSTD 1553B databus in the original Apache. A digital map, HF radio, and an upgraded Improved Data Modem compatible with Joint Variable Message Formats connect the attack helicopter with more air and ground platforms. Later Block II helicopters introduced an open-systems avionics architecture readily upgraded with new hardware and software. Separate from the Block II enhancements, the Apache received the Lockheed Martin Modernized Target Acquisition/Designation Sight and Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/M-PNVS) with longer-range, higher-resolution sensors. Block II Apaches transmitted M-TADS imagery to ground tactical operations centers.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) received their first new-build Apache Longbow in May 2002. The Japan Self Defense Forces took delivery of their first AH-64D from Fuji Heavy Industries in 2006. Boeing subsequently built new Block II AH-64D Wartime Replacement Aircraft for the U.S. Army and converted more AH-64As to D-models for existing international Apache operators.
The US Army receives its last Block II AH-64D Apache Longbows in September 2013 with the last three AH-64A-to-D conversions and a new-build War Replacement Aircraft. Block III AH-64E Guardian modernization further enhances Apache lethality and recovers AH-64A performance. The latest helicopter consequently integrates high-lift composite main rotor blades with T700-GE-701D engines and an efficient split-torque face gear transmission. An Open System avionics architecture simultaneously expands Apache digital connectivity and gives the attack helicopter crew Level IV control over Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Block II Apache Longbows with VUIT-2 (Video Unmanned aerial system Intelligence Teaming) have Level 2 UAS control to see UAS imagery. Block III helicopters can re-route the Gray Eagle UAS in flight and steer the UAS sensors.
The AH-64E completed Initial Operational Test and Evaluation in April 2012 and has received a full rate production approval. The First Unit Equipped with the AH-64E stands up in May 2013, and Initial Operation Capability is scheduled for November of this year. The US Army’s acquisition objective is 690 Apache Block III aircraft. First Foreign Military Sales customers for the AH-64E are reportedly Taiwan and Indonesia or Qatar. Eleven countries now operate AH-64D Apache Longbows and are candidates for Block III modernization.

Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing are jointly producing a medium-lift-sized demonstrator they call SB>1 Defiant for phase one of the program. It will fly in 2017 and will be evaluated by the Army for further development. Sikorsky is leading the development of phase one with an aircraft based on their previous Sikorsky X2 design.Compared to conventional helicopters, the counter-rotating coaxial main rotors and pusher propeller offer a 185 km/h (115 mph) speed increase, combat radius extended by 60%, and performs 50% better in high-hot hover performance. Boeing plans to lead phase two, which is the mission systems demonstrator phase.The Boeing-Sikorsky team is seen to have an advantage, given their industrial base, the fact that their helicopter designs are the most used in the Army, and because the Army has had little interest in tiltrotor technology, like that submitted by Bell. The design will have a cruise speed of 250 kn (290 mph; 460 km/h), but less range due to using the “old” T55 engine. A new engine (the future affordable turbine engine (FATE) like on the V-280) would meet the range requirement of 229 NM (264 mi; 424 km). Sikorsky has said that the X2 design is not suitable for heavy-lift size, and instead suggests the CH-53K for heavy-lift and tiltrotor for the ultra-class. However, Sikorsky plans to build the 30,000lb-class JMR-TD at full scale to remove doubts about the scalability of the X-2 technology. The team feels confident in the SB-1 Defiant and is paying for more than half of its design costs. The SB-1 will be quick and nimble, with fast acceleration and deceleration, side-to-side movement, and hovering with the tail up and nose down.The Defiant demonstrator will be powered by the Honeywell T55, which powers the CH-47 Chinook. It will be slightly modified to better operate at slower speeds.

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army’s Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) competition in 1972. The Army designated the prototype as the YUH-60A and selected the Black Hawk as the winner of the program in 1976, after a fly-off competition with the Boeing Vertol YUH-61.

The UH-60A entered service with the U.S. Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1 Iroquois as the Army’s tactical transport helicopter. This was followed by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variants of the Black Hawk. Improved UH-60L and UH-60M utility variants have also been developed. Modified versions have also been developed for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. In addition to U.S. Army use, the UH-60 family has been exported to several nations. Black Hawks have served in combat during conflicts in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and other areas in the Middle East.