- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 160
Cutting edge and the aerospace industry are not one and the same (they would like to be but just can't risk it). Technology takes a long time and allot of money to develop and prove. This is why there are so few aircraft under development and in production today.
Aircraft do not have a best before date. The hardest thing to keep current in aircraft today is the electronics. They say that by the time you get your home computer home it is out of date. Well by the time you get your new electronics in your aircraft it is well over a decade out of date due to the development and testing periods. Our little Bell412s (Griffons) are a militarized civilian helicopter that is based on a military helicopter, the Huey. Originally the Huey was intended to be a utility chopper and in that role they excel. For heavy lifting and moving a platoon of infantry at a time you had the Chinook. Well the shithook is gone and if you want something moved start pushing.
We missed the boat, we could have standardized down to one rotary wing airframe across the forces and maintained much of our capability. Replaced the Kiowa, Huey, Chinook and Sea king with the Hawk series(Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, etc..). By cutting back to one aircraft we would reduce the maint costs through economy of scale.
Here comes the boat again the US is offering surplus Hawk airframes for sale and with our purchase of the new H-92 Super hawks which use the same power plants and flight dynamics we could still say we only had one aircraft model to maintain and the supply inventory to prove it..
Allot changed between 1956 when the Huey first flew and 1976 when the Black hawk first flew. We would also benefit from the ongoing research in the US as we would be flying the same aircraft as our major defence partner who plans on keeping the type in service until 2025-2030.
Aircraft do not have a best before date. The hardest thing to keep current in aircraft today is the electronics. They say that by the time you get your home computer home it is out of date. Well by the time you get your new electronics in your aircraft it is well over a decade out of date due to the development and testing periods. Our little Bell412s (Griffons) are a militarized civilian helicopter that is based on a military helicopter, the Huey. Originally the Huey was intended to be a utility chopper and in that role they excel. For heavy lifting and moving a platoon of infantry at a time you had the Chinook. Well the shithook is gone and if you want something moved start pushing.
We missed the boat, we could have standardized down to one rotary wing airframe across the forces and maintained much of our capability. Replaced the Kiowa, Huey, Chinook and Sea king with the Hawk series(Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, etc..). By cutting back to one aircraft we would reduce the maint costs through economy of scale.
Here comes the boat again the US is offering surplus Hawk airframes for sale and with our purchase of the new H-92 Super hawks which use the same power plants and flight dynamics we could still say we only had one aircraft model to maintain and the supply inventory to prove it..
Allot changed between 1956 when the Huey first flew and 1976 when the Black hawk first flew. We would also benefit from the ongoing research in the US as we would be flying the same aircraft as our major defence partner who plans on keeping the type in service until 2025-2030.
