Originally Posted by
JohnDixson
60FM, LW, Megan, Caspar, it seems to me I recall some conversations from the distant past re putting the 92 box and drive on the Hawk. 2 degrees different shaft tilt, but that can be managed. Makes the bigger GE engines candidate power plants. Conversation mentioned the 92 tail rotor as well. All good to go and flight qualified. All it needs is a decision to go. A couple of other no-brainer mods would attend these few, and it would/should leave some folks in the higher echelons wondering if all that money for the speed will be worth it. Just thinking about what-ifs.
A drop in update to the Hawk is no longer as simple as originally envisioned and I suspect an update to the H-60 with T901 engines would involve a new design transmission for the H-60, modded MR blades and modded tail rotor blades rather than use modified S-92 parts. In any case, if the Army is basing it's future strategy on fewer bases much further apart, I'm not sure the increased range of a H-60 "Block II" with these mods suits their needs. Without an increase in speed, longer range is just slower response time. It's a fair question, then, how FARA fits into this as the range/speed of either competitor isn't a good match for FLRAA.