Originally Posted by
The Sultan
Wow those are impressive performance numbers for a 1950's rotorcraft.
How familiar are you with the timelines of actual flight test programs?
Program set back ... gee, what modern program isn't running into this? It appears that pushing the edge of the performance and payload envelopes keeps being difficult.
Good thing the V-22 never had any problems during development ... (oh, wait, V-22 isn't actually on topic in this discussion).
But look at what the Marines get for sticking with it, the V-22, no matter the criticisms and no matter the set backs.
A good bird.
Here's a thought: they'll get the same with the 53K. A good bird that hauls loads of stuff. (IIRC, they aren't going for speed as the major metric with 53K, that's what Avenger and Defiant are chasing after)