Through the process we ran across a model number of SA366 or something.... was this the Aerospat ID for the HH-65?
I'm not an expert on the type, I've just always admired it. Enough so that I took the time to engage a coastie crew at a heli-expo display one day. Between that and some reading, I've learned a few things about the Dolphin. Very few it seems to me, since I've never flown or wrenched on one. I was a UH-60 wrench in a previous life.
A little reading reveals that AS-365 and SA-366 are both designations for the French Dauphin. The HH-65 is based on that design but was built in Texas and used different engines, among other equipage not common to the Dauphin. It seems the later C model upgrades are still in progress and include scrapping the LTS engines of the A and B models in favor of much newer Ariels of vastly superior power output and fuel specifics, new fenestron and improved gearboxes among other things.
I think it's always been a highly capable helicopter for it's intended mission, but suffered from weight creep, compounded by inadequate LTS engines. With new engines, it now has the power, range and speed it lacked before.
Here's something else pertinent to the thread title: It seems that some people may have referred to the Dolphin as
Tupperwolf! (Plastic helicopter?)