Old-Duffer,
The Dutch Block 5 ac had a similar, though older Honeywell cockpit. Theirs was monochrome and ours got colour. The issue was that the DefStans were written very stringently and we would have had to have paid lots to access the source code to prove the primary flt instruments were certified to our standards. They were already meeting US DO178B standard. It was an issue, but not the only one.
Having said that, the spec wasn't great and we would probably not have lived with that cockpit for long, it would have driven us nuts. As Evalu8ter has said, buying US off the shelf means that we don't get a rotorbrake and we get an inferior DAS set up, so it's not a cost-effective idea.
Duplo: No, don't be daft! That would be far too useful. We're lucky to get the 14 that we are, we were going to in line for 22. Any add ons like radar just increase cost and reduce airframe numbers. More likely, if you ask for too much, you just get laughed at and end up with nothing.
Last edited by MG; 16th Apr 2013 at 19:38.