Bluengreen wrote
"This aircraft was procured with a good external load capability (we thought) - up to 4000Kg on a very smart hook that would measure the load and use this weight to recalculate your performance. Like most helicopters, it is actually incapable of lifting this ultimate weight. All Up Mass - Basic Mass is less than 4000 ! Anyway, as it turns out the hook is a bit too smart - the articulations in roll and pitch (via axles / beams) mean that no only is the hook incompatible with the RAN standard load lifting equipment, it is also moving too much for the airframe strength. Back to the drawing board NHI !"
To me this seems to parallel the tendency to design overly complex solutions to a requirement. Sounds very seductive, but complex, more to maintain, more to go wrong, and hard to get to work, more expensive in the final configuration, and in the end not really necessary.
Maybe I'm using hindsight too judgementally.