Mart;
The originally promised date was late 2006.
You say;-
"Any particular objective date will be more a target for the engineer's to aim towards."
Perhaps the Engineering dept. should set the Engineering dept's target date. Not the Hyperbole dept.
Perhaps you recall;
"They’re calling their cocktail of integrated digital, aerolelastic and compound technology the X2 and say that its unique co-axial/pusher prop design will do 250 KTAS knots by the end of 2006. ..............
......... Jeff Pino, now in charge of Sikorsky’s strategic programs put his people in special shirts, had a mock-up ready, and pulsed people’s cell phones to get them to come to a briefing.
There were some interesting sidelights: the legendary Marat Tischenko, head of Mil under the communist USSR rose to his feet to challenge Finger on making ‘a mistake’ by selecting the co-axial design.
Finger paused, then turned away, body language suggesting this was no time - no time at all - to engage in a debate on the esoterics. ................."
David S. Harvey