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Next-gen night vision would enable troops to see farther, clearer
Oct. 12, 2014 - 03:36PM |

By Kevin Lilley
Staff writer
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Military Technology
The basic technology behind night vision gear has been in place for decades, though advancements in that technology have allowed soldiers to see farther and clearer in the dark.

If a new research project meets its goals, that all changes.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking proposals for next-gen night vision goggles, which would be lighter, use more of the infrared spectrum and allow a soldier to share his view with his squadmates digitally.

They might even make you healthier. Here’s what you need to know:

■ Program basics. The program joined others on a recent DARPA solicitation of small-business proposals. Entitled “Next Generation Tactical Wearable Night Vision,” it’s listed as a U.S. Special Operations Command effort.

■ Requirements. The new gear must offer 20/20 vision “at clear starlight,” according to the solicitation, weigh less than current systems and hold up to existing durability standards. The system would be able to switch in and out of night vision mode in an instant — when a soldier moves from well-lit street into a dark alley, for example, offering what the solicitation calls “all-condition viewing.”

It’ll also need to run for 24 hours on a full charge and “support interface with tactical computing elements and communication systems, to include the transmission of sound and video to other team members.”

■ Every soldier a digital cameraman? That’s the idea — DARPA hopes that advances in wearable, networked technology will allow for what amounts to streaming NVG video. The benefits are clear for any squad hoping to “own the night” against an enemy force that would likely have access to traditional, commercially available night vision technology.

■ Go virtual. The camera won’t be the only high-tech element of the new NVG — DARPA wants it to include a heads-up display that would “interact with emerging portable tactical computing,” per the solicitation. It would do so using near-universal interface tools, allowing for inclusion in any future Army mobile communication system, or simply with a smartphone or tablet.

■ Save your neck. The weight of the current goggles or monocle may not seem like much compared with the rest of a soldier’s gear, but its uneven distribution can cause problems.

Those problems get worse if a soldier is in one spot for an extended period of time — in a prone position ready to fire a rifle, for instance. A 2012 Army Medicine publication said that combination leads to “significant exposure” to pinched nerves or other neck issues.

A survey of 88 aviators published that same year by the Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory said 58 percent of them complained of some type of neck pain, with night vision use identified as a key factor.

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Saab Adds Capabilities In New Recoilless Rifle

Aviation Week & Space Technology - Defense Technology Edition
Francis Tusa
Francis Tusa
Mon, 2014-10-13 04:00
Saab recoilless rifle is light, ‘smart’ and lethal
Saab Dynamics used its first ground combat systems demonstration day here to show the newest iteration of the Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifle, a man-portable, multirole weapon system. Also on display at the event last month were new rounds for the 84-mm weapon and its sister system, the disposable, shoulder-launched AT4 anti-armor weapon.

The M4 is the latest in a family of 84-mm recoilless weapons from Saab that dates to 1948. The M4 will be on display at the Association of the U.S. Army show in Washington, Oct. 13-15.

The M4, which is finishing qualification trials and should be available for sale in 2015, has major product improvements over the M3 version. At 6.6 kg (14.5 lb.) for the basic system (without advanced sights), the M4 is 3.4-kg lighter.

It is also shorter than the M3—950 mm (37.4 in.), as opposed to 1,065 mm. Peter Hellekant, who provides technical support for the Carl-Gustaf program, explains that the shorter length was partly driven by the need for a weapon that is easier to wield in urban areas.

The weight saving was achieved by analyzing each component of the weapon and using lighter-weight parts where possible. A titanium tube liner, for example, saves 1.1 kg; the carbon fiber tube saves 0.8 kg; and a new venturi design saves 0.9 kg. Ongoing developments in materials aided in the lightweight design, and this process is likely to continue.

New options have also been added. A red-spot sight is one addition to the firing capabilities. There is also a travel safety catch, which allows the Carl-Gustaf to be carried loaded, thus saving time in firing the weapon. A shot counter lets armorers know how many rounds have been fired, to better manage the weapon’s 1,000-round barrel life. There is a remote round management function, so intelligent sights can “talk” to programmable rounds in the barrel and create greater targeting accuracy. And Picatinny rails for grips and sight mounts permit options for better operator ergonomics, as well as a wide range of sighting systems.

There have, as well, been improvements to ammunition for the AT4 and the Carl-Gustaf. At the firing demonstration, both the new AT4 high-explosive round and extended-range HEAT (high-explosive anti-tank) round were on display. The former has a 1,000-meter (3,281-ft.) range and a lethal blast area of 400 sq. meters (4,300 sq. ft.); the latter has a 600-meter range and enhanced armor penetration. For the Carl-Gustaf, the 655CS round was displayed, which reportedly achieves more than 500 mm of armor penetration, although with confined space-firing options.

These follow developments of the last few years that have seen customers ask for rounds capable of tackling the mud walls of Afghan compounds, either to deal with enemy troops taking cover behind them, or to make entrance holes. Saab Dynamics executives note that European forces are showing a renewed interest in anti-armor capabilities.

Increasingly, rounds for both the AT4 and Carl-Gustaf are being made confined-space-capable. And work is underway to ensure that future rounds will be compliant with insensitive munitions directives.

Saab Dynamics demonstrated the future direction of the Carl-Gustaf and AT4 with a concept project, the Ultra-Light Missile (ULM). At this stage, two years into development, areas where elements are being refined include the handling and storage systems, which are planned to be as similar as possible to the current Carl-Gustaf version. Packaging for the ULM uses the tube that packs the simulator system. The ULM’s range is about 1,500-2,000 meters. Apart from these areas, most options—including warhead and guidance—are very much open.

“You could have an anti-armor role,” says Johan Ekroot of Saab Dynamics, about the ULM. “But it is easier to see a system that has greater range, greater accuracy and lower collateral damage possibilities. You can see this as useful for countering, say, snipers at range.”

Although work so far has focused on the Carl-Gustaf, as with so many areas of development at Saab, there are options to adapt such technologies to future versions of the AT4. Increasingly, the company sees the two products as complementary, rather than rivals, although as several executives admit, this has not always been the case.

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U.S. says Turkey OKs use of bases against militants
Oct. 12, 2014 - 03:33PM |


By Lolita C. Baldor
The Associated Press
FILED UNDER
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World News
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Dempsey: U.S. used Apache helos near Baghdad
Hagel: U.S. wants use of Incirlik Air Base, help training
ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Turkey will let U.S. and coalition forces use its bases, including a key installation within 100 miles of the Syrian border for operations against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, American defense officials said Sunday.

The Obama administration had pressed Turkey for a larger role against the extremists, and a senior U.S. official confirmed Saturday that Ankara had agreed to train and moderate Syrian rebels on Turkish soil. A Turkish government official said Sunday that Turkey put the number at 4,000 opposition fighters and said they would be screened by Turkish intelligence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who has been traveling in South America, has said the U.S. wanted access to the Turkish air bases, including one at Incirlik in southern Turkey, from which to launch strikes against the Islamic militants.

That base is part of the agreement, according to U.S. defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private talks between the Americans and Turks.

Beyond the training and bases, there are other issues the U.S. hopes Turkey will agree to. U.S. officials have not said what all of those would be because discussions are continuing. The militants have taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and driven refugees into Turkey.

Hagel spoke by telephone Sunday with Turkey’s defense minister, Ismet Yilmaz, and thanked him for his country’s willingness to assist in the fight against Islamic State militants.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Hagel “noted Turkey’s expertise in this area and the responsible manner in which Turkey is handling the other challenges this struggle has placed upon the country, in terms of refugees and border security.”

Earlier, President Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, made clear that the U.S. has not asked “the Turks to send ground forces of their own into Syria.”

American officials are “continuing to talk to the Turks about other ways that they can play an important role. They are already essential to trying to prevent the flow of foreign fighters” and extremists from exporting oil through Turkey. “So Turkey has many ways it can contribute,” Rice told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Turkey and other American allies are pressing the U.S. to create a no-fly zone inside Syrian territory, and seeking creation of a secure buffer on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey. A “safe zone” would require Americans and their partners to protect ground territory and patrol the sky, meaning enforcement of a no-fly area.

Hagel has said American leaders are open to discussing a safe zone, but creating one isn’t “actively being considered.”

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has estimated it would require hundreds of U.S. aircraft and cost as much as $1 billion a month to maintain an area in Syria safe from attacks by the Islamic State group and Syria’s air force, with no assurance of a change in battlefield momentum toward ending the Syrian civil war.

“Do I anticipate that there could be circumstances in the future where that would be part of the campaign? Yeah,” Dempsey told ABC’s “This Week.”

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Dempsey: U.S. used Apache helos near Baghdad
Oct. 12, 2014 - 02:00PM |

The Associated Press
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U.S. says Turkey OKs use of bases against militants
WASHINGTON — The top U.S. military officer says the U.S. called in Apache helicopters to prevent Iraqi forces from being overrun by Islamic State militants in a recent fight near Baghdad’s airport.

Gen. Martin Dempsey says the extremists were within about 15 miles and had they overrun the Iraqis, “it was a straight shot to the airport.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman also tells ABC’s “This Week” that there could be circumstances in the future when a no-fly zone over Syria could be part of the military campaign.

Dempsey says there may come a time when he might recommend that American advisers accompany Iraqi troops against Islamic State targets. Dempsey thinks Mosul, in northern Iraq, could be the “decisive” battle in the ground campaign at some point.

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Army bomb tech removes grenade from Ala. man's leg
Oct. 12, 2014 - 10:07AM |

The Associated Press
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BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — A man seeking treatment after a military practice grenade misfired and lodged in his leg prompted a bomb scare at a Birmingham hospital, where police confined the injured man to an ambulance until an Army bomb expert removed the device Saturday.

The 40mm grenade turned out to be a practice round that lacks the explosive power of those used in combat. But authorities said they didn’t know that until a bomb disposal technician dispatched from Fort Benning, Georgia, arrived at UAB Hospital and got a close look. Paramedics stayed through the night with the man in an ambulance parked outside the emergency room.

“Had it been high explosive, it could have taken that ambulance apart,” said Dave Hyche, a Birmingham supervisor for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The man told authorities he was tinkering with the practice grenade, which is designed to be fired from a launcher, at his home Friday evening when it activated and lodged in his thigh, Hyche said.

Police said the injured man was in his 60s. They did not immediately release his name.

He sought treatment at a hospital in Walker County before being taken by ambulance to Birmingham, al.com reported. Authorities said neither hospital would let him enter with a possible explosive device in his leg. Birmingham police closed off a street outside the hospital huntil the Army’s bomb technician removed the device at 6:50 a.m. Saturday.

“Paramedics stayed with the guy all night and saved his life,” Hyche said. “Had it been high explosive, it could have taken that ambulance apart.”

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The man told authorities he was tinkering with the practice grenade, which is designed to be fired from a launcher, at his home Friday evening when it activated and lodged in his thigh, Hyche said.

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Equation said:

So the guy was tinkering with a practiced round of a possible M-203 grenade launcher or something like that?

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US Army testing IAI hand-launched UAS
By: DAN PARSONSWASHINGTON DC Source: Flightglobal.com a few seconds ago
The US Army is field testing more than a dozen hand-launched unmanned air vehicles manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which has long sought a foothold in the US military unmanned air systems (UAS) market.

The company is hoping that a play for small-UAS business could open a door to future contracts.

In an interview with Flightglobal during the Association of the US Army’s annual exposition in Washington, D.C., IAI North America chief executive Robert Foglesong said the market for medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS is saturated with systems and crews returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US market is also dominated by entrenched UAS manufacturers like General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which builds the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper.

“The Air Force brought lots of Predators and Reapers home and the Army has got lots of Gray Eagles,” he says. “It became a much tighter market in the MALE UAV business.”

“We think the open field is still in the small UAV business,” Foglesong says.

IAI’s US subsidiary Stark Aerospace has developed several new unmanned systems that debuted at AUSA . ArrowLite is a 6lb (2.72kg) aircraft that can be carried in a large backpack. A single soldier can assemble the system in under 90 seconds and launch it with one hand from a standing or prone position and expect 2.5 hours of endurance.

Stark was established in 2008 in order to create a “beachhead” in the US unmanned systems market, he says. The company initially was involved only in the defence market but has begun to explore opportunities with commercial UAS applications.

The US military is currently putting 13 prototype ArrowLites, complete with electro-optical/infrared sensors and ground control stations, through an operational military utility assessment, Foglesong says. Aerolite was developed in concert with the US Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office and has fielded to special operations units, Foglesong says.

“Israel has faced the same types of circumstances we’re now facing in the United States, but they’ve been facing it for decades.”

Foglesong points to the need for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) along US borders. The technologies, techniques and training that Israel has adopted over the years is applicable to the United States as its military returns from foreign wars to focus more on domestic security, he says.

“One of our desires is to introduce a lot of the equipment and the training that the Israeli Defense Force and industry has responded to over the last several decades,” he says.

The company is also nearing the launch of a 25-pound UAV that has electric engine nacelles that tilt like a Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey. It can take off vertically and transition into more-efficient forward-flight.

Stark also is pitching its HoverLite tethered ISR platform for border security missions. The aircraft rises to 150 feet and is towed behind a truck at up to 25mph (40km/h) by a bi-directional power cable that transmits data and video to the operator. The quad-copter-like platform can be deployed or recalled within 15s and does not violate the US Federal Aviation Administration’s restrictions on operating UAS in the national airspace, says Bradley Puffpaff, president of Stark Defense Services.

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Bell Unveils New 'Valor' Tiltrotor
Oct. 13, 2014 - 04:36PM | By MICHELLE TAN | Comments

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Bell's V-280 Valor on display at the Association of the US Army meeting in Washington on Monday. (Mike Morones/ / Staff)
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WASHINGTON — Bell Helicopter on Monday unveiled a full-scale model of its V-280 Valor — the next generation in tiltrotor aircraft — at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting here.

Slightly larger than the UH-60 Black Hawk, the V-280 is a third-generation tiltrotor aircraft designed for the Joint Multi-Role demonstrator and Future Vertical Lift programs.

Bell, which produced the V-22 Osprey, took the lessons learned from that aircraft’s more than 250,000 flying hours to design the V-280, said Keith Flail, program director for Future Vertical Lift Military Programs at Bell.

Full Coverage From our AUSA Digital Show Daily

The V-280 is designed to go twice as far and fast as today’s helicopters, Flail said.

“The greatness of tiltrotor aircraft, with the performance of a helicopter and a plane” can change the way a commander covers and manages his battle space, he said.

It means “operational productivity” will increase for commanders and troops on the ground, Flail said.

“The commander can cover a lot more battle space,” he said.

The V-280’s ability to fly faster also will make it easier to move troops, medically evacuate the wounded and resupply units across the battlefield, Flail said.

The V-280 can cruise at 280 knots with a combat range of 500 to 800 nautical miles, according to Bell’s website.

In its current configuration, the V-280 can carry a crew of four plus 14 troops, and has two six-foot-wide side doors for quick entry and exit.

It also has a fixed engine configuration, meaning only the propellers rotate, and straight fixed wings, for simplicity of design and cost effectiveness, Flail said.

“It’s all about applying technology through the lens of affordability,” he said.

The company is in the detailed design phase of the V-280’s development, with plans to build the aircraft beginning in 2015 and have it ready for tests and flight in September 2017, he said.

The Army-led Joint Multi-Role demonstrator program is the science and technology precursor to the Defense Department’s Future Vertical Lift program, according to Bell’s website. The program is expected to replace 2,000 to 4,000 medium-class utility and attack helicopters.

Bell was selected to build and fly the V-280 Valor as part of the demonstration program, according to Bell. ■

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Lockheed Martin Preparing JAGM Bid; Raytheon Unsure

AWIN First
Amy Butler
Mon, 2014-10-13 16:25
Lockheed Martin is preparing to craft a proposal for the U.S. Army’s long-awaited development competition for a scaled-down Joint Air-to-Ground missile (JAGM) program, according to a company official.

Raytheon, however, its most likely competitor, is still assessing whether to continue pursuing the work.

Once eyed as a sophisticated tri-mode seeker design for destroying moving targets through weather on the battlefield, JAGM was refocused by the Army in 2013. Raytheon’s design was downselected out, and Lockheed Martin continued work developing a dual-mode seeker for integration on the AGM-114R Hellfire under a $60 million concept development contract.

The company’s strategy now is to build dual-mode seekers – using semi-active lasers (SALs) and millimeter wave (MMW) radars – that can be added to the back end of existing Hellfire designs.

The company funded two flight trials this year, the Lockheed Martin official said. Both were rail-launched units that are production representative, he said. The company requested his identity not be revealed for security reasons.

During the first trial in February, the SAL was used to guide the weapon in to destroy a truck from a range of 6 km. In the second, the SAL acquired the target and handed it off to the MMW for a kill of a moving target, the company official said.

The new strategy left behind Lockheed Martin’s imaging infrared seeker, reducing cost and complexity in the requirements.

The Army’s request for proposals is slated to come out soon, with contract award by August 2015. Though the Army ceased funding of Raytheon’s design, the company is still assessing whether to submit a bid for the work.

"If we bid, the company will offer our tri-mode seeker based on the hardware being proven today in Small Diameter Bomb II," an Air Force program to develop a moving target version of the 250-lb. SDB glide bomb, said John Patterson, a Raytheon spokesman. This design incorporates an uncooled imaging infrared seeker into the SAL and MMW sensor design. "We believe this can provide a more capable solution for the Army and the Department of the Navy that is both low risk and affordable."

The Army’s AH-64 Apache and Marine Corps AH-1Z are the threshold platforms slated to operate JAGM. It is also expected to eventually be used by the Predator, Reaper and Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft in the future.

Development of the JAGM could take about 18 months and two low-rate, initial production lots totaling 1,000 units are planned thereafter.

Meanwhile, Lockheed has "stayed very knowledgeable" on trimode seeker work but has no government-funded contracts to mature it. "We are not going to make assumptions and design the answer for the government," the Lockheed official said of the potential to add a third seeker into the design.

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ISTANBUL — A day after American officials said Turkey had agreed to allow its air bases to be used for operations against the Islamic State, which they described as a deal that represented a breakthrough in tense negotiations, Turkish officials said on Monday that there was no deal yet, and that talks were still underway.

The Turkish comments represented another miscommunication between the United States and its longtime ally Turkey, as President Obama pushes to strengthen an international coalition against the militants that control a large area of both Syria and Iraq, by securing a greater role for Turkey.

The Turks have insisted that any broad support to the coalition is dependent on the mission going beyond the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL, to also target the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, which Turkey has long opposed and blames for creating the conditions that led to the rise of the extremists within Syria and Iraq.

Cemil Bayik, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has been fighting a guerrilla war against Turkey for three decades.Kurdish Rebels Assail Turkish Inaction on ISIS as Peril to Peace TalksOCT. 12, 2014

“We approach this issue from a comprehensive perspective, including safe havens and a no-fly zone to be established in the region,” said an official in the office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The official, who said that no deal over the use of air bases had been completed, added, “Talks, therefore, continue as we look into things we can do together while covering all these aspects.”

A senior Defense Department official insisted on Monday that Turkey had agreed in principle to the use of its bases. The official also sought to tamp down reports of a rupture between the two allies.

“They have agreed to some base usage, but the details of how it will be executed are still being worked out,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of pending negotiations.

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Sikorsky, Boeing finalise design of SB-1 Defiant
By: DAN PARSONSWASHINGTON DC Source: Flightglobal.com in 3 hours
Sikorsky and Boeing have finalised the design of the team’s offering for the US Army’s joint multi-role technology demonstrator (JMR-TD), called the SB-1 Defiant.

The configuration is a militarised and scaled up version of Sikorsky’s X2, the rigid rotor coaxial compound helicopter that demonstrated a 250kt (460km/h) speed in level flight in 2010.

“In addition to speed, the low-speed manoeuvrablity is also quite significant, as well as the high-hot performance,” says Doug Shidler, Sikorsky’s JMR programme manager, meaning the aircraft can hover 6,000ft above sea level on a 35˚C (95˚F) day.

The SB-1’s pusher propeller will allow it to move forward and back at a level attitude or pitch 20˚ nose up or down without moving forward or back, which is impossible with current rotorcraft. The aircraft will be able to cruise at more than 250kt, outpacing the army’s 230kt speed requirement.

The coaxial rotors create very little downwash compared with a traditional helicopter, Shidler says. It is also maritime capable with folding rotor blades.

Pat Donnelly, Boeing’s JMR programme manager said the aircraft is designed to carry 12 fully equipped troops, plus crew of four. To do that, the cabin is about 50% larger than the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, he says.

Because it is using off-the-shelf Honeywell T55 turboshaft engines, the Defiant demonstrator will fall short of the army’s fuel efficiency and range desires, Donnelly says.

The production model of the aircraft is designed with engines that meet the army’s 229nm (424km) range requirement based on fuel efficiencies expected from the future affordable turbine engine (FATE), Shidler says.

Two participants will compete for a contract to build a future vertical lift (FVL) aircraft, the overriding long-term effort to replace the army’s entire inventory of rotorcraft beginning with utility platforms like the UH-60 around 2030.

X2 technologies, including rigid coaxial rotors and fly-by-wire flight controls, already have been parlayed into the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, the Defiant’s smaller brother.

While the X2 weighed about 2,720kg (6,000lb), the Raider weighs about 5,000kg. A functional prototype of the Raider was unveiled in early October and is scheduled for first flight by the end of the year.

Weighing in at over 13,600kg, the Defiant is much larger in comparison. A ground test rig for the engine, rotors and transmission is scheduled to fire up in 2016 with first flight scheduled for the end of fiscal year 2017 at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility.

“We wanted to demonstrate the scalability of this configuration and architecture,” Shidler says. “As the army develops their future vertical lift requirements, we now have a tool set that can scale along with their requirements.”

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US Army details combat experience with AH-64E
By: DAN PARSONSWASHINGTON DC Source: 8 hours ago
The US Army is counting on the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter to remain in service for the foreseeable future, which will require incremental upgrades beyond the most up-to-date E model aircraft that have already seen thousands of hours of combat.

All of the army’s AH-64Es should be out of Afghanistan by the end of the current fiscal year, after which time they will be reset for future missions, Col Jeff Hager, the service’s Apache project manager, told reporters on 13 October at the Association of the US Army’s annual exposition in Washington DC.

Boeing is supporting the army’s plan to upgrade all its Apaches to the E model, which along with previous iterations of the aircraft is set to take over the armed aerial scout mission as part of the service’s aviation restructuring initiative. Even as the fleet’s role in Afghanistan is lessened, Apaches recently started combat operations against Islamic State militants over Syria and Iraq.

The army earlier this year signed contracts for the third and fourth lots of E-model Apaches, which brings the programme to full-rate production. At least 30 of the total 82 aircraft in these lots have been built, Hager says. The lots will take the programme through FY2017 at least, when both Boeing and the army are aiming to sign a five-year procurement contract for 48 aircraft per year.

The army’s programme of record remains 390 aircraft, Hager adds.

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The combined D- and E-model fleet has flown more than 4 million total flight hours. Of this, 23,000h was with AH-64Es, which have flown almost 9,600 combat hours. E-model Apaches boast engine and transmission upgrades and composite main rotor blades that reduce weight while improving lift and power. The AH-64E also features a Link 16 communications suite that displays intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data captured by other aircraft directly into the Apache’s cockpit.

From April through to September, E-model Apaches were flying in combat with an 88% operational readiness rate, says Tim Sassenrath, Boeing's vice-president for rotorcraft support.

This is “a phenomenal feat for a new airframe in combat, flying the type of hours that Col Hager mentioned”, Sassenrath says.

Lot six aircraft will include new technology, such as the addition of a fire-control radar that broadens bandwidth to allow for detection of small ships in littoral environments, in support of increased maritime operations, Hager adds.

Expanded manned-unmanned teaming is also in the Apache’s future, Hager says. The AH-64E has Level 4 teaming with the AAI RQ-7 Shadow, giving Apache pilots complete control of the unmanned air system (UAS) from take-off to landing, and seamless access to its sensor data. The D-model has Level 2 teaming capability, where data is ported into the Apache cockpit but the pilots are unable to command the UAS.

“We have controlled all of the sensors on a Shadow B2,” Hager says.The army has already teamed up Apaches with the larger General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

Boeing is also producing AH-64Es for a number of Foreign Military Sales customers. Taiwan has taken delivery of all 30 aircraft it ordered. Saudi Arabia will eventually boast a fleet of 36 Apaches assigned to the Royal Saudi Land Forces and another 12 for its national guard, that will begin delivery in 2015. South Korea will take delivery of the first of its 36 aircraft next year.

India, Indonesia and Qatar all are interested in purchasing new Apaches as well, Hager says.

“Every country that has ever operated the Apache is coming back and asking for the latest improvements, what’s going on with the [E-model], because they are seeing the benefits it’s bringing to the US, and they want to be able to interoperate with that," he adds.

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Bell Adds To V-280 Tiltrotor Team For Army JMR Demo

AWIN First
Graham Warwick
Tue, 2014-10-14 10:34
Bell Helicopter has added the first international partner to its V-280 Valor program to build an advanced medium-utility rotorcraft for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role (JMR) technology demonstration.

Israel Aerospace Industries will supply the nacelle structures for the 280 kt.-cruise tiltrotor. Unlike the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, the V-280 has fixed wingtip-mounted engine nacelles with only the proprotors tilting.

Bell has also selected Textron sister company TRU Simulation & Training to build a high-fidelity marketing simulator and desktop maintenance trainer with which to give Army pilots and maintainers exposure to operating the tiltrotor ahead of its first flight in 2017.

"The Army does not have tiltrotors, so when the simulator is complete next spring we can start to get more pilots in and help them understand how to fly a tiltrotor," says Keith Flail, Bell’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program director.

Bell has to show the Army that a high-speed, long-range tiltrotor has the hover performance and low-speed agility needed to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk medium utility helicopter beginning around 2035.

The V-22 has proved a tiltotor is fast, and can decelerate and accelerate quickly to increase survivability into and out of the landing zone. But the Osprey has a higher disk loading and lower hover efficiency than a helicopter.

Compared to the V-22, the 280-kt V-280 Valor JMR will be simpler and lighter, with lower disk loading and longer wing for greater hover and cruise efficiency. But Bell does not have a prototype to showcase before the V-280 flies.

Sikorsky and teammate Boeing have to show the Army that the unique flying characteristics of their 230-kt SB.1 Defiant JMR demonstrator justify the additional complexity of its rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration.

But Sikorsky plans to fly its first prototype S-97 Raider armed scout helicopter by year’s end, and will have a second aircraft it plans to use to conduct customer demonstrations to show the military utility of its high-speed configuration.

Bell plans to use the marketing simulator to give Army pilots early experience of the tiltrotor’s acceleration and deceleration characteristics and the V-280’s low-speed agility, Flail says.

The desktop maintenance instruction device, meanwhile, will let Army maintainers accustomed to working on overhead-mounted dynamic systems see how the V-280’s engines, gearboxes and proprotors would be serviced.

"The wingtip nacelle is different to what they are used to, but V-280 is designed so they can get at components without removing the nacelle. They can take the [rotor] mast off and pull the proprotor gearbox off a spline shaft," he says.

Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing have been selected by the Army to fly competing JMR high-speed rotorcraft demonstrators as a precursor to an FVL Medium program, beginning around 2020, to develop a replacement for the Black Hawk.

Essentially full-scale, Flail says, the V-280 demonstrator is to be powered by two 5,000-shp General Electric T64-419 turboshafts. The engines, previously used in the Sikorsky CH-53E, will be overhauled and modified for the demo.

The T64s will enable demonstration of the tiltrotor’s speed, range and hot-and-high hover capability, but GE says Bell plans to use a version of the Army’s Future Affordable Turbine Engine demonstrator in a production V-280.

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