thedrifter
04-19-08, 07:27 AM
Speedhawk Challenges Osprey
By David Hambling April 18, 2008 | 3:00:00 PM
There has been a great deal of fanfare over the deployment of tilt-rotor Ospreys to Iraq –- and given the record-breaking 40-year development period, some sort of celebration is in order that it has finally made it into active service. The positive news coverage has all focused on the $100-million V-22's edge in speed over helicopters; it makes a great fast taxi service for VIPs in Iraq. But an article in Flight International suggests that this speed advantage may not be permanent:
With a squadron of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys flying routine combat operations with the US Marines in Iraq, optimism is growing in the civilian sector that vertical lift aircraft unencumbered by the helicopter's traditional speed limit of 160-180kt (300-330km/h) could similarly transition from oddity to norm.
For the military, the change of heart is partly because the U.S. Marines Corp now needs an armed escort fast enough to accompany the V-22 on its missions. On the civil side, which is benefiting from military-funded technologies, the offshore oil and gas industry is now able to afford to cut down on travel time to platforms located farther and farther offshore. Flater says that one-way trip times of 45 minutes are not uncommon.
This raises the immediate question of how safe Ospreys are if they are going to be flying without gunship escort, normally seen as essential for helicopter assaults. The gunship version of the tilt-rotor itself was turned down a long time ago: it can't hover and duck behind cover like an AH-64 Apache, and isn't suitable for heavy long-range weapons like an AC-130 Spooky.
The defensive armament of the transport Ospreys clearly is not enough to suppress or neutralise serious opposition, hence the need for a faster helicopter for the gunship role. Several companies are working on different approaches to achieve this, and the article says that one of the leaders in the race for faster copters is Piasecki Aircraft:
Piasecki has a compromise position with its army-funded VDTP technology - it can be retrofitted into an existing helicopter design. The company last year began test flights of the technology, reaching speeds of almost 180kt. Modifications to a US Navy Sikorsky YSH-60F include a flaperon-equip¬ped wing and shell-like thrust vectoring device around the propulsor tail that is used partly to provide main rotor counter-torque at low speeds.
"There is a huge amount of non-recurring costs to penetrate a new market," says John Piasecki, vice president, contracts and administration for Piasecki Aircraft. "The compound helicopter, if it can be retrofitted, reduces a lot of the risks - financial and time - that is required to deploy a new technology. Several companies have expressed interest in this for existing product lines."
If the compound YSH-60F aka Speedhawk is a success and the new market develops, it will pave the way for even faster choppers designed from scratch. And if helicopters are capable of meeting the requirements, why do you need a tilt-rotor with all its attendant complexity, expense and safety issues?
The compound helicopter may turn out to be the Cinderella of this story: spurned forty years ago while her ugly tilt-rotor sister got all the money and attention, she finally emerges into the limelight when her foot alone will fit the glass slipper of military requirments ...
RIP Chinook Designer : Piasecki Aircraft was founded by Frank Piasecki, who ran the company right up until his death last month aged 88. A major figure in the development of twin-rotor helicopters including the CH-47 Chinook, judginy by his obituary in the Guardian Piasecki was quite a character:
Piasecki, whose family came from Poland, became only the second American to design and fly a prototype helicopter in 1943, two years after the Russian-born Igor Sikorsky had flown the first. Unlike Sikorsky, however, Piasecki concentrated on helicopters with tandem rotors that could provide the capacity for troop transports and land and sea rescue missions. He never retired; even on the day he died his chief test pilot was flying his latest development, the Speed Hawk, which has a ducted fan replacing the helicopter's familiar vertical tail rotor to increase its speed and manoeuvrability.
.... Known as Pi to his friends and staff, Piasecki was a demanding and occasionally table-thumping boss, but knew all his staff personally, and admired those who stood up to him. He had continued as chief executive, his mental abilities undiminished despite several disabling strokes.
Ellie
By David Hambling April 18, 2008 | 3:00:00 PM
There has been a great deal of fanfare over the deployment of tilt-rotor Ospreys to Iraq –- and given the record-breaking 40-year development period, some sort of celebration is in order that it has finally made it into active service. The positive news coverage has all focused on the $100-million V-22's edge in speed over helicopters; it makes a great fast taxi service for VIPs in Iraq. But an article in Flight International suggests that this speed advantage may not be permanent:
With a squadron of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys flying routine combat operations with the US Marines in Iraq, optimism is growing in the civilian sector that vertical lift aircraft unencumbered by the helicopter's traditional speed limit of 160-180kt (300-330km/h) could similarly transition from oddity to norm.
For the military, the change of heart is partly because the U.S. Marines Corp now needs an armed escort fast enough to accompany the V-22 on its missions. On the civil side, which is benefiting from military-funded technologies, the offshore oil and gas industry is now able to afford to cut down on travel time to platforms located farther and farther offshore. Flater says that one-way trip times of 45 minutes are not uncommon.
This raises the immediate question of how safe Ospreys are if they are going to be flying without gunship escort, normally seen as essential for helicopter assaults. The gunship version of the tilt-rotor itself was turned down a long time ago: it can't hover and duck behind cover like an AH-64 Apache, and isn't suitable for heavy long-range weapons like an AC-130 Spooky.
The defensive armament of the transport Ospreys clearly is not enough to suppress or neutralise serious opposition, hence the need for a faster helicopter for the gunship role. Several companies are working on different approaches to achieve this, and the article says that one of the leaders in the race for faster copters is Piasecki Aircraft:
Piasecki has a compromise position with its army-funded VDTP technology - it can be retrofitted into an existing helicopter design. The company last year began test flights of the technology, reaching speeds of almost 180kt. Modifications to a US Navy Sikorsky YSH-60F include a flaperon-equip¬ped wing and shell-like thrust vectoring device around the propulsor tail that is used partly to provide main rotor counter-torque at low speeds.
"There is a huge amount of non-recurring costs to penetrate a new market," says John Piasecki, vice president, contracts and administration for Piasecki Aircraft. "The compound helicopter, if it can be retrofitted, reduces a lot of the risks - financial and time - that is required to deploy a new technology. Several companies have expressed interest in this for existing product lines."
If the compound YSH-60F aka Speedhawk is a success and the new market develops, it will pave the way for even faster choppers designed from scratch. And if helicopters are capable of meeting the requirements, why do you need a tilt-rotor with all its attendant complexity, expense and safety issues?
The compound helicopter may turn out to be the Cinderella of this story: spurned forty years ago while her ugly tilt-rotor sister got all the money and attention, she finally emerges into the limelight when her foot alone will fit the glass slipper of military requirments ...
RIP Chinook Designer : Piasecki Aircraft was founded by Frank Piasecki, who ran the company right up until his death last month aged 88. A major figure in the development of twin-rotor helicopters including the CH-47 Chinook, judginy by his obituary in the Guardian Piasecki was quite a character:
Piasecki, whose family came from Poland, became only the second American to design and fly a prototype helicopter in 1943, two years after the Russian-born Igor Sikorsky had flown the first. Unlike Sikorsky, however, Piasecki concentrated on helicopters with tandem rotors that could provide the capacity for troop transports and land and sea rescue missions. He never retired; even on the day he died his chief test pilot was flying his latest development, the Speed Hawk, which has a ducted fan replacing the helicopter's familiar vertical tail rotor to increase its speed and manoeuvrability.
.... Known as Pi to his friends and staff, Piasecki was a demanding and occasionally table-thumping boss, but knew all his staff personally, and admired those who stood up to him. He had continued as chief executive, his mental abilities undiminished despite several disabling strokes.
Ellie