I’m a big believer in the H-60M(or 60i in this case) especially since it dispenses with one of the maintenance hogs as far as the airframe is concerned and that item is the UES or Upturned Exhaust System.
If this aircraft won’t be deployed into combat theaters this is a big weight savings to have “straight pipes” as we call the non-infrared suppressed aircraft, and the removal of the maintenance due to cracking in the heat insulation blankets and cracks in the engine cowling latch boxes which require removal of the assembly to make repairs.
If they could get rid of the 3 piece folding stabilator they could get rid a really big maintenance hog. I see the utility of it for air/ground transport for a combat aircraft but a lot of down time is eaten up inspecting and repairing this when an old school one piece Stab would do the job way better.(or the “new school” fully composite stab that’s supposedly coming, one day)
In the end all “modern” utility helicopters in the size class and capability being looked at will have their own issues, no one platform is perfect but 2000+ hours riding in the back and maintaining them, plus seeing the amount of abuse they can take has given me a ton of confidence in the H-60 platform.
FltMech