armrdsoul77
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I like the aesthetic of unmanned versions of what were designed to be manned aircraft. Friend or foe? 
Future Helicopters
- Thread starter a_majoor
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Bell Textron ready to supply helicopters to Ukraine
Bell Textron, a major American aerospace manufacturer, has confirmed its readiness to supply its AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Militarnyi reported. The development follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Washington between representatives...
defence-blog.com
Viper and Venom still have a role apparently
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Pilot-Optional UH-60 Black Hawk Put To The Test In U.S. Military Exercise
The OPV Black Hawk showed off new abilities to drop cargo by parachute, move sling-loads, and carry out medical evacuation missions.
www.twz.com
Optionally Piloted UH-60 commanded a non-aviator Staff Sergeant with a tablet and an hour's training.
Multiple waypoints, parachute drops and sling loads over 70 km.
And the guys doing the slinging preferred the autopilot to the real thing - more stable in the hover.
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Pilot-Optional UH-60 Black Hawk Put To The Test In U.S. Military Exercise
The OPV Black Hawk showed off new abilities to drop cargo by parachute, move sling-loads, and carry out medical evacuation missions.
Optionally Piloted UH-60 commanded a non-aviator Staff Sergeant with a tablet and an hour's training.
Multiple waypoints, parachute drops and sling loads over 70 km.
And the guys doing the slinging preferred the autopilot to the real thing - more stable in the hover.
Further to...
Medals all around to the air crew for pucker factor related wear and tear.
"Lockheed Martin recently reported that a Black Hawk helicopter built by its Sikorsky subsidiary and outfitted with the company's MATRIX autonomy system, developed under DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, flew a trio of practice missions at Michigan's Camp Grayling in August. At the helm was an Army National Guard Sergeant First Class who "trained in less than an hour" and "became the first soldier to independently plan, command, and execute OPV [optionally piloted] Black Hawk missions using the system's handheld tablet."
In short, a non-aviator was given a handheld tablet and managed to fly a Black Hawk that, while carrying an aircrew, was without a pilot at the controls - and it flew a full 70 nautical miles (80 miles, 129 kilometers) away in the course of the trial. "
Pace Bob Newhart - listening in on that conversation:
Who's going to be flying this thing?
And we're on board?
How much training?
GK .Dundas
Army.ca Veteran
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I wonder what's considered more offensive the fact that it was unmanned or that it was " flown/ operated by a mere Sargent ?Pilot-Optional UH-60 Black Hawk Put To The Test In U.S. Military Exercise
The OPV Black Hawk showed off new abilities to drop cargo by parachute, move sling-loads, and carry out medical evacuation missions.
Optionally Piloted UH-60 commanded a non-aviator Staff Sergeant with a tablet and an hour's training.
Multiple waypoints, parachute drops and sling loads over 70 km.
And the guys doing the slinging preferred the autopilot to the real thing - more stable in the hover.
- Reaction score
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- Points
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So further to learning to use flying machines,
A US Army National Guard Sergeant First Class (E7), equivalent to a Canadian WO, with a tablet was flying a UH-70 remotely after an hour of training. (See above).
Meanwhile the US Army is trying to improve the training of their helicopter pilots by adopting civilian models
breakingdefense.com
Why?
.....
At the other end of the spectrum we have Ukrainians flying FPV drones
"Right now, it’s harder to train a pilot from scratch, especially if they don’t have any experience with radios, engineering or related technical fields. In general, it takes at least three months to train the pilots from scratch to the beginner level.
"When we talk about pilots, it’s worth mentioning that they also need to be a bit like engineers – if we talk about FPV drones. When you are in position, you have to understand how the system works. If something goes wrong, you should be able to repair it; if the drone crashes, you need to figure out how to make it fly again. So piloting skills are important, but it’s equally important to have some engineering knowledge as well."
www.defensenews.com
Back in WW1 and WW2 the person that drove a vehicle was a "Driver-Mechanic". Teenage Princess Elizabeth of the ATS was expected to be able to fix her vehicle as well as drive it.
Helicopter pilots and Army Sergeants aren't expected to repair their helicopters.
....
Maybe, rather than training pilots the army should be training mechanics and let them use the Sergeant's tablet, either while riding or on the ground. But they also need to be comms techs and EW operators.
A US Army National Guard Sergeant First Class (E7), equivalent to a Canadian WO, with a tablet was flying a UH-70 remotely after an hour of training. (See above).
Meanwhile the US Army is trying to improve the training of their helicopter pilots by adopting civilian models
How the Army is transforming helicopter pilot training - Breaking Defense
Flight School Next will draw on industry expertise to prepare helicopter pilots for real-world situations.
breakingdefense.com
Why?
.....
At the other end of the spectrum we have Ukrainians flying FPV drones
"Right now, it’s harder to train a pilot from scratch, especially if they don’t have any experience with radios, engineering or related technical fields. In general, it takes at least three months to train the pilots from scratch to the beginner level.
"When we talk about pilots, it’s worth mentioning that they also need to be a bit like engineers – if we talk about FPV drones. When you are in position, you have to understand how the system works. If something goes wrong, you should be able to repair it; if the drone crashes, you need to figure out how to make it fly again. So piloting skills are important, but it’s equally important to have some engineering knowledge as well."
Of fiber-optics and FPVs – 6 questions with a Ukrainian drone trainer
Unmanned FPV motherships are on the rise, as operators face an intense cat-and-mouse game on frequency jamming and exploiting momentary vulnerabilities.
www.defensenews.com
Back in WW1 and WW2 the person that drove a vehicle was a "Driver-Mechanic". Teenage Princess Elizabeth of the ATS was expected to be able to fix her vehicle as well as drive it.
Helicopter pilots and Army Sergeants aren't expected to repair their helicopters.
....
Maybe, rather than training pilots the army should be training mechanics and let them use the Sergeant's tablet, either while riding or on the ground. But they also need to be comms techs and EW operators.
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So, the latest edition of SKIES Magazine is out and they are reporting that nTACS program will be divided into three phases (p.62): Phase 1: 427 Special Operations Air Sqn will be getting 18 new helicopters; Phase 2: will be the acquisition of an attack/recce helicopter, and Phase 3: the acquisition of one or more airframes for the Army. (Hat-tip to Noah).
Noah also has a newsletter out looking at nTACS, the CH-146 Griffon and the 427 SOAS replacement and is speculating that the Sikorskys MH-60M is the most likely candidate.
Noah also has a newsletter out looking at nTACS, the CH-146 Griffon and the 427 SOAS replacement and is speculating that the Sikorskys MH-60M is the most likely candidate.
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Although I'm still not convinced that the proper fix for Cyclone, as an isolated situation, is to put money into it and fix it, the stars seem to be aligning into something different. Have MH-60Ms for 427, UH-60s for the rest of the Army (and a significant number of them), MH-60Rs for ASW (somewhere around 28 to replace the Cyclone), and MH-60Ss for other embarked roles (including, hopefully, the AOPS) is starting to make more and more sense.
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From a fleet management, sustainment, and personnel generation perspective, definitely.
A major problem space (right now) is a strong desire to reduce reliance on one nation for military equipment... And buying conservatively 200+ helicopters for all those roles risks becoming A Thing.
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You are not wrong.
But, if not Lockmart/Boeing helicopters- then who? Leonardo? NH Industries? Nobody is easy to work with in this space.
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Cries in Bell Helicopter (Mirabel).
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Listen, replacing 100 Bell helicopters that everyone acknowledges cannot do the job with more Bell helicopters is not the flex that you think it is….
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Would it make sense for the TacHel units to get MH-60S's instead of UH-60's to give additional commonality (identical engine to the MH-60R) and then then entire utility fleet would be marinized to be able to use the AOPS/JSS as "lily pads" for joint operations.
I'm sure the MH-60S is more expensive than the UH-60 but the ability to deploy any airframe in the fleet aboard ship if required and all having the same glass cockpit might be worth it.
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Yet they will cry foul if anything but their product is chosen. When they do, toss them a bone and buy 12 helicopters from them, paint them grey and lease them through TC to the DND to support AOP's domestic duties in the North.
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The Griffon is the LSVW of the RCAF. Discuss.
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Mothership Textron can solve that by licensing the UH-1Y fabrication as a commercial variant, to resolve the BHTI and BHTC separation of church and state.
No.
Extra dead-weight/complexity of a folding tail on the MH-60S reduces tactical payload and its maritime landing gear configuration is designed for vertical landing on ships and handstand landing areas, and not well-suited to tactical landings on irregular tactical landing surfaces.
