U.S. Army 160th SOAR: Helicopters Must Fly FASTER & FARTHER

[1crazyfocker]

the paint color is something we in AVN have been complaining about for a while, and have been told such things as it has been aproved but is being held up because they need to pick which "color of grey to use on Army birds" but the whole "pusher" prop idea has been around for as many years as the helicopter, it steal to much power in almost every case to the point that you cant hover with a load. and the 347 is a perfect example 20 kn faster but now it can only carry <half the load at a hover

[JcXtreme72]

I was under the impression helicopters are limited to 200 knots for fear of what would happen if the main or tail rotors were to break the sound barrier

[ericsean67]

I miss being in the Unit..3rd 160th HAAF, Savannah Ga. Best Aviation unit in the Army!

[stopYOURdumshyt]

hate choppers. so unpredictable. the craziest shit happens in the blink of an eye. no pretty good chopper pilots cause they all die.

[pds0303]

@stopYOURdumshyt I think you need to stopyourdumshyt

[Veldtian1]

Lockheed gyro stabilized rigid rotor system ala Cheyenne AH-56, we all know helicopter design perfection was attained in the 1960's..

[sbentjies]

I'd say the gray schemes on the Sea Cobras come from a need to blend in with the ocean too, but either way it makes sense. The Nightstalkers need dark helicopters at night, wouldn't you say?

[dynmicpara]

@sbentjies NO, the best color for BOTH Day and Night is camouflage gray---160th SOAR has to fly during the day, too. Ever hear of the Blackhawk Down! incident? We have a video of it here, click on the link in the video description and watch it on vimeo to hear the sound.

[kdawur]

@sbentjies best colors is not to make it contrast to environment, therefore colors that blend in at day can also make lesser contrast to the lightest environment at night, which usually is the sky. Dark colors tend to stick out on the sky at night, especially in the evening.

[DetoxMansion]

Reminds me of the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne designed over 40 years ago. Pusher prop, actual functioning wings that look exactly like the Cheyenne's wings. interesting.

[roelskiing]

"If the wings fly faster than the fuselage its a helicopter, therefore its unsafe"

[Mixelplic]

I don't like helicopter designs, too much heavy steel, too high on the airframe. WAY too many compromises in volume use & structural load pathing right through the middle of the damn airframe. What you want to do is seal a hollow, deep, supercritical wing around two large scale FIW plenums & put your VTDP underneath as flapped jet lift propulsors running off a SINGLE, turbine high on the back (no hot thrust/reingest issues). If the wings carry only the L+LC fans and podded propulsors,

[08techgrad]

I'd like to see our military dump the helicopters, and use VTOLs like the Scorpion from Avatar as transports, and the Banshee from Starcraft 2 to perform aerial hit and run missions.

[237th]

yeah, I'm sure these will be fielded....in about 50-55 years.

[BlacktailDefense]

The way the US military drags it's feet on these issues reminds me of a procurement debacle in another country, long ago.

Russia was offered Winchester Rifles in the 1860s, but they scoffed them. Russian generals regarded rapid-fire capability as a catalyst for troops shooting-off all their ammo in a blind panic (a discipline issue --- NOT a technical one).

It was their subordinates who paid the price; during the Battle of Plevna, the Turks massacred the Russians... with Winchesters.

[Whitehorze]

Which is why we developed the V-22 osprey.

Now we need to convince our president to get rid of our veitnam era (ie: 50 year old technology) helicopters and start upgrading our fleet with machines that have the deep strike capacity we need for the terrain of the afganistan mountains.

[dynmicpara]

OOPS. The V-22 doesn't work. Not enough rotor lift but too much prop drag to fly efficiently in forward flight.

[Patriot1776ization]

@dynmicpara it does now

[Dominik520520]

@Whitehorze The V-22 is junk, takes forever to take off and land and as such is useless in today's fastpaced tactics and strategies.

[DemonHide]

Yes! You could sell those combo-choppers on looks alone. Add to that increased range and speed, you got a winner for everybody. If required, Navy versions could also have fold-up wings in addition to folding rotors. They'd get the camo right at least.

While the video of the X-49A showed a vertical takeoff, I didn't see a vertical landing. I assume this is doable. Is it?