I bet Eurocopter knew that the ventilation was so poor that crews complained of the excessive heat before they made the Army proposal. Furthermore, I bet that Eurocopter knew that avionics were failing due to the high heat generated in the nose of the aircraft as the result of poor ventilation, as reported by the media. They could have certainly proposed an a/c on the basic aircraft as part of their initial proposal but elected to leave this out to further increase their margins
Chuck: you may be right what Eurocopter knew (or not), but that's not the point. Army procurment says you must meet a minimum number of requirements, which are specified in the contract. if you propose additional items beyond those included in the Request For Proposal, you do so at your own risk because the extra items: (1) cost more; (2) weigh more; (3) are more difficult to maintain. IMO, Eurocopter was right not to include the A/C until an after it won the bid...it could have meant NOT winning the bid at all.
My beef is with the Army...I don't think they thought out their requirements very well at all, nor do I think they understand the nuances of the FARs. If you read their RFP last year, the aircraft could be "part 27 or part 29, or Cat-A or not...yada yada" If the Army wants to use civil cert, then fine...they need to be prepared for what they sign-up for. The avionics met the Part29 standard...which were NOT designed for operating at NTC in July.
Yes...the Apache had A/C...I used to fly them. But that was different: the Apache was designed to go into combat (which ostensibly, the UH72 is not...I'm not sure I believe that for a nanosecond); and (2) the avionics in the Apache also run the weapons systems. Some of the avionics aren't in the cockpit per se, but must still be cooled, as the weapons must work. (And it was still hot with the A/C turned full ON!)
Yes, the Army bought the TH67 through civil cert. But again, I believe there's a caveat. First, it is used ONLY at Rucker for training, and won't be deployed to active units (as is the UH72). And second, it is essentially a OH58.