Another excellent dispatch from DT friend, Bob Cox, who’s a top contributor to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s new Sky Talk blog and a veteran aerospace reporter for them…
Pentagon weapons testers are not overly impressed with the Army’s new light utility helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota, which is very similar to the Eurocopter EC-145.
In a recently issued report, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation said that while the new helicopters can probably serve fine as the equivalent of a small pickup truck they’re not well suited to tougher tasks, such as carrying two critically injured patients — one of the Army’s requirements.
The UH-72A is intended primarily for use by the National Guard and stateside Army units as a utility aircraft, meaning carrying four or five people from point A to Point B. It’s purpose is to allow the Army to keep its larger, more powerful Blackhawks for use by combat units. The report does indicate the Lakota is an improvement over the aging UH-1H Hueys and OH-58A/C Kiowa models the guard now has.
But the helicopter failed to meet key mission requirements specified by the Army, including having enough room to carry two critically ill patients with an attending medic. It also cannot lift the required weights, internally or externally, at high altitudes and hot weather. And the cabin air conditioning, which is different than that of the commercial EC-145, cannot keep temperatures low enough. The aircraft manual specifies a condition where the avionics may shut down after just 30-minutes if operated at too high a temperature.
Produced by Eurocopter/EADS, the UH-72A was selected by the Army a year ago after a competition involving four aircraft that also included entries from MD Helicopters, Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland. American Eurocopter, the U.S. arm of the French-German consortium, is gearing up to build more than 300 of the new aircraft at a plant in Mississippi.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmmmmm,one would have thought that they would have had a trial to test carrying two patients at a time BEFORE they approved buying this.I just don’t understand,what does this all mean? Well I guess if the LUH actually worked,it would have been canceled just like the ARH was.
I see the civilian version fly medvac flights every day here in Philly. I think that chopper is the main medvac aircraft.
In short- what did the military do to screw it up?
Could be worse – they could have picked the Chinook-
It seems like the military goes with what they want. For example look at the M16/M4 neither is suited for desert combat and there have been tests done to prove that other guns work better, yet the military does the same tests and always says that it wont work. When usually the reason is the messed it up on purpose,or they give wrong reasons because it “might cost to much”!
I heard this helicopter was being recalled because of lead paint.Hey wait a minute,this isn’t made in China,nevermind…….Eurocopter is pretty respectable,& the German engineering is pretty good.I agree with the writer before,what did the military do to screw this up.I mean,this was supposed to be a simple helicopter to be used mainly stateside & in garrison.How do you screw that up? Germany must be rolling their eyes right now.
What ever happened with the phrase if it ain’t broke don’t fix it? Ever heard Huey 2? I am not the smartest guy around; but I do believe that a tried and true aircraft as an upgraded UH-1 would have done the job; but that is just me; what do I know?
When it comes to a life(human or other)one can’t take risk,build it STRONG,FAST and RIGHT-the 1st time.,and I AGREE with other people on this-IF IT AIN’T BROKE,DON’T FIX IT!!!!!! —-EITHER do the JOB RIGHT or GIVE IT to SOMEONE who will.(or better yet! GET THE PEOPLE OUT OF OFFICE WHO IS BECOMING SO COMPLACENT(sp?)THAT THEY WILL SETTLE FOR LESS.!) I personally don’t care what the cost,I’ll be GLAD to give more of my HARD EARNED money to TAX DOLLARS to PROTECT the ones that are PROTECTING US! both warzone and stateside. FORGET THE POLITICS FOR ONCE……JUST GET THE JOB DONE…who knows,maybe you’ll save a soldiers life.
Just give it 30 years, it will be great. This latest edition is a redux of the 365 Dolphin and the USCG. It is not that the aircraft in question or H-65 are “bad”. They are poorly suited to take on a military role from a civilian based aircraft. The contract spells out specifications and they are met. So poor contract construction, just barely met, etc leads to this kind of result. So now the Army, like the Coast Guard will need to spend money and time on fixes and improvements. It will take years to improve engines, AC units, what ever to get the very aircraft desired. The huge problem with this the capability needed now is not there, money will be spent to fix that can not go to other needs, and once the aircraft is fixed – it will be old and not a current technology capable performer. Along the way, the very aircraft you are trying to preserve, H-60s in this case will still soldier along and valuable resources will be used up. Solution, first I think a buy American concept would help here, not that an American product is inherently better, especially in the arena of rotary wing aircraft, but a real investment in a set of military rotary wing aircraft would be a critical edge for our military and industries. Next have the military say what they want. What ever they come up with, especially weight, temps, altitude increase by 20%, because the military is like an alcholic in a bar that enters for one drink – they can not help themselves and the mission will always creep up. So if you build a robust enough machine with some excess capacity you have a service life machine that lasts a while. Finally, lets consider when we have a good aircraft, like the H-60, lets come up with ways to refine it and incorporate leading edge break throughs. For instance improved rotor blades, rotor heads, transmissions, etc. This means investment in R&D and it means an enivornment that industry feels if they make a better flying mouse trap, someone will buy it. One last thought: every board room, design shop, line area, DoD aquisition office, etc. needs a picture of a trooper, soldier, sailor, airman, marine, or coast guardsman – sitting in some hell hole of a situation looking to the sky for air support, be it lift, fire support, supplies, what ever – that is the mission at the end of the day.
This is another Great Program brought to you by Bill Cody the master mind behind this stupid decision to by a POS aircraft.
What a go General!
The Civilian version is used all over the world as a medivac helo. So..huh
You will never see a decent actually working weapon system ever again until you see the U.s. brought down to the level of integration into a NAFTA super state & under submission to the U.N. with the U.N. having law making & tax collecting powers.Everything you see with the problems of the U.S. maintaining weapons & putting new weapons into service has to do with tearing it down as a superpower & making it just another member of the U.N, & under U.N. domination.When you understand that,you’ll understand why the UH-72 doesn’t work….for the U.S. Army.If of course you believe in globalism & internationalism,then the current state of our armed forces should make you proud.
Consider this: the only place this aircraft is being used as a Medevac right now, is in the high desert of Southern California. It is operating at 2500 feet at temperatures aproaching 135 degrees, and in a sand laden environment…please tell me which aircraft is going to do extremely well under these conditions? Cut the thing some slack…the problem is that the 60 drivers that are now flying these were never very good with power-management; they just need to switch gears a bit, as they always have in the past, and always will in the future. Relax and chill out, the pilots will figure it out in time and all will be sweet.
Good Morning Guys,
Is this just another case of United Technologies and Bell trying to pi** on Lockheeds shoes. The mission of the UH-72A is to be a light utility vehicle not designed nor intended for a “Dust Off” or a “Combat” role.
It’s job will be to get the Admirals and Generals to their tee times on time and other such delicate missions. In the case that a high rankng golfer gets a little tired on the 11th. hole the UH-72A is perfectably able to get him/her home to take a nap. Meanwhile a UH-60 is freed up for the missions it was intened for.
As long as our pampered, perfumed, purple pricnes and princesses (re. Hack) of the pentagon and the National Guard REQUIRE perfered air transpost why not do it like we treat our combat wounded, on the cheap.
I’m sure that O9′s and O10′s will still demand their Blackhawks though. After all RHIP.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
first off the army was presented with all the above issues of the BASIC CONFIGURATION at contract. air conditioning and desert invironment ventelation systems where recomended. the army said the mission conditions would never require those modifications. sand filter and rotor upgrades where recomended for desert operations, once again the army said no. configurations of the ec-145 are now performing well in those conditions with the proper modifications that are part of packages available now. it was never intended to be a weapons platform. it was intended to free up combat aircraft for that role. the aircraft is solid and has few operational issues if flown in the condition specified by the customer at build time. these helicopters do what they are designed to do. if you by a porsche dont expect it to pull a horse trailer and then blame the manufacturer when the trany blows out.
first off the army was presented with all the above issues of the BASIC CONFIGURATION at contract. air conditioning and desert invironment ventelation systems where recomended. the army said the mission conditions would never require those modifications. sand filter and rotor upgrades where recomended for desert operations, once again the army said no. configurations of the ec-145 are now performing well in those conditions with the proper modifications that are part of packages available now. it was never intended to be a weapons platform. it was intended to free up combat aircraft for that role. the aircraft is solid and has few operational issues if flown in the condition specified by the customer at build time. these helicopters do what they are designed to do. if you by a porsche dont expect it to pull a horse trailer and then blame the manufacturer when the trany blows out.
Alright people, i’ve had about enough of you idiots that sit here and defend this pile of junk. First and foremost, the “LA-JUNKA” was supposed to take on a homeland security mode as an off the shelf—into our troops hands bird–and once again the army went with the cheapest bird (or whatever manufacturer can bribe enough congressmen/women to buy into their bird.) Yeah, it may handle the loads required by the military when IN CIVILIAN FORM…but once again the army had to take away options in favor of screwing those that will fly these things….not to mention THEY CANNOT AND WILL NOT HANDLE missions that they were required to do. Why am I a “basher” of these P.O.S. ??? Very simple…they’re using them right now at “NTC” (for you non Army types….Fort Irwin, California—about 90 miles south of Vegas in the middle of the high desert.) I was stationed there, and a member of the MEDEVAC unit from 1995 to 1999, and know firsthand what’s expected of a helicopter in those conditions….and let me tell you, unless you have POWER ON TAP AT ALL TIMES you’re not flying….hell, even the huey’s that are out there right now (UH-1H/V’s) can’t even handle the power requirements half the time during the summer (unless you’re flying at 3am with half your fuel bags full and plan on a 1 hour flight.) This bird can’t handle it’s inteneded missions point blank, and ANYONE here that reads this knows the Army is going to expect 10 times the initial purpose listing once they figure out how to strap 2 more engines on this thing (along with a/c, and other stuff i dare not mention on a public thread.) What do I say to this flying pile of crap??? Scrap it and get the huey’s back flying where they need to be (in northern states) I’m not a huey guy, (15 yrs working on blackhawks) but knowing what that things capable of compared to the “lajunka” it could already to what they’re asking for, at a lower cost all around.
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