St Jack,
As we in the RAF said re the Wessex when the 'Plastic Pig' (Puma) was introduced. Guess what? The Wessex has been gone 15+ years and the Puma has at least another 5 (probably 10) to do. As aviators we are rabidly loyal to our steeds, and suspicious of the new as, firstly, it might not work, and, more pertinently, it has the tendency to partially reset the experience pyramid. I flew with several ex-Wessex guys who really struggled flying the CH-47; they just could not adapt to the speed, power and avionics the aircraft had. The UH-1 family is still a nice aircraft to tool around in, but nothing like a UH-60 (I have a passing acquaintance flying both). However, when you don't anticipate putting a machine into a complex threat environment, the sheer economies of a civil based design start to look really appealing. The civil world put cost above everything else (as long as the design meets the FAR/EASA CS) and the -139 I would imagine, over time, is significantly cheaper to fly than a reheated UH-60. I went to the AW line in Philly this year and, to be frank, was very encouraged by all I spoke to. VH-71 is an unfair comparison, brought down by ludicrous LM project 'management' and political expediency, whereas the Cormorant 'had' to be different enough for a normal EH101 to justify the political U-Turn that saw it purchased.