DS and rrekn,
The Sikorsky Archives statement re the reasons we dropped out of the competition ( which we thought we had won unofficially ) are the same ones I heard internally at the time, to wit 1) Not wanting to grant to the US Gov’t the data rights to the design; 2) Concern re the financial liability attached to a fixed price avionics suite package. Not mentioned in the archives, but heard in the halls, was that there was concern re the production line capability. Can’t comment on that as I never heard any serious discussion along those lines.
As to the first, the US Army had already demonstrated doing that with a separate R&D contract on the CH-54, wherein an automated single point load stabilization flight control system ( a sophisticated take-off on the SH-3 sonar cable angle hover system ) which was paid for with Army funds, was given to Boeing and showed up in the Boeing HLH proposal some years later. Thus it was going to happen anyway and further, the technology in the 76 rotor, flight controls and drive train were very influenced by the UH-60 design,none of it was classified etc etc.
The second point was well taken, but a solution existed in controlling the precise wording used in the contract ( a solution we did not exercise in two future, non-S-76 foreign sales, BTW ).