COuldnt upload image as was on train from Kings X and all lights went out so after leaving station :(:E

Here's Sikorsky official photo,

cheers

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psozqomfba.jpg

Impressive machine :D



skadi

A very impressive aircraft indeed. It would be nice if people would appreciate just how difficult a task it is to design and build such an aircraft.

First Flight
 

Congratulations to the whole team. It is always great to see a new aircraft take to the air for the first time. Since the 53E was such a workhorse, I can't wait to see what this one will do!

From Flightglobal:

US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) reported on 24 March that the King Stallion recently demonstrated its advertised speed of 140kts with 15° angle-of-bank turns.

The one thing not impressive about the 53K is its apparent pathetic performance. Is Sikosrky sandbagging this thing to 140 kts so the S-97 looks impressive at speeds well short of the V-22?

The Sultan

Far more interesting to me was:

44% is danger-close to Nunn–McCurdy

Sans

After the Canadian 92, this is not surprising. Probably just the start.

The Sultan

The Sultan might probably be only too familiar with all this, with his experience with the failed ARH programme cancellation?

Rotor

You are confused Sikosky did the multi-billion fiasco called the LHX as competently as they did the Can 92. The flaw with ARH was it was managed by the govt's LHX program who grew requirements until, to save themselves, they cancelled the mission. So now we have 64's doing scouting missions poorly.

One thing to note the 407 has better speed than the 53K.

The Sultan

I am not in the least bit confused, and my comment is specific to the Bell ARH program. You appear to be doing a bit of revisionist history here, as the blame for the failure of this project lies firmly in the hands of Bell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_ARH-70_Arapaho

Oh, and the 53K has better payload than the 407.

I am not sure that you can say that with confidence, nor that you have any metrics to support that statement. Note: I thought the Kiowa Warrior was a great asset.
Please don't ignore how much the UAV/RPV family of unmanned aircraft, of sizes down to hand launched, have intruded on the manned recon mission's rice bowl. I got a good look at that in OIF about ten years ago, and the UAV's role has grown since. FWIW, I suspect that ARH was a victim of bad timing ... +/- two years on that acquisition time line and I suspect it would not have been cnx'd.

Thus far, I think 53K has demonstrated a max payload of...2 crew? :}

CH-53K arrived in Europe
 

It has arrived today, in Germany ahead of next month's ILA,

cheers

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/800/4...c5c76c9e_b.jpg

Update:

http://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-...295_128428-117

36k lb external load :D

That is no problem....I donated to the Kitty today so the USMC should be good to go for a while!

Not that impressive. The YCH-53E demo'd a 35,600 lb external payload lift on August 10th, 1974, with 40% less installed power.

The impressive performance will be when the CH-53K demonstrates its ability to lift heavy payloads over long distances at high/hot conditions.

I/C

Hot/High, Long Distance, heavy payloads....so what is the competition in that contest?

The 101, NH-90, Belvedere or the venerable Chinook?

Not a chance with any of those but the Mi-26?

Halo aside, I guess the answer is multiple Chinooks. Just as the CH-47F was the default platform in Afghanistan for lifting Black Hawk-sized payloads at 10,000 ft HLZs, the CH-53K will be able to lift CH-47-sized payloads at high altitudes, albeit at a price.

The current CH-47F can carry 16k lb @ 4K/95F, while the CH-53K's baseline requirement is 27k lb @ 3K/95F (with an objective requirement of 30k lb @ 3K/95F). The Block II CH-47F will close the gap slightly, but the CH-53K will remain king of the hill, thanks in no small part to its 22,500 shp of installed power.

(Let's see what happens when Boeing sticks a couple of T408s in the CH-47. :E)

I/C

The RAF is said to be called by Boeing to send one of their Odiham Chinooks to ILA as well.