Originally Posted by
henra
The mission isn't going away but the question remains if they are not too expensive/complex, too big and too fragile for the mission.
The big plus of the Blackhawk for this mission is that it is extremely rugged, rather nimble and small and not excessively complex and expensive. Almost the opposite of the new vertical lift high speed platforms. The most dangerous phase for the helicopter in combat has historically been the landing/de- boarding phase. And that is the phase where especially the valor is a huuuuge and beautiful target with lots of critical parts widely spread and is also rather limited in its agility and descent rate compared to the nimble Blackhawk. I'm not really convinced that they are not going to cancel the current bid. For certain special missions the new platforms surely offer very interesting possibilities but I have a hard time to figure them as real replacement for the rugged 'bread and butter' combat mule that is the Blackhwak.
One of the requirements for FLRAA is that the aircraft has to to be able to fit the same number of their craft into a given space as the UH-60.. Both competitors meet this requirement. Another is that they have to meet the agility requirement. In some areas V-280 has already demonstrated that it exceeds thisrequirement. I don't know about SB>1 yet.
Last edited by Commando Cody; 13th Mar 2021 at 05:12.