Not far fetched

https://hushkit.net/2021/02/12/whate...-70-blackhawk/

Puma HC3 has a nice ring to it… the 21st century MRCA Must Refurbish Choppers Again.

it’s a farce isn’t it, when you look at the likes of Turkey’s myriad of new types in development from helicopters to supersonic UAV’s to fighters and the once great aircraft manufactures of the U.K. haven’t produced any indigenous military aircraft since the Hawk. And I’m talking U.K., not some multi country efforts. Ohh the Government will talk the talk while quietly killing off home produced military production.

There's some chat on Twitter about troop carrying capacities. What are the actual "fully equipped" capacities of the contenders?

NumbersCount - UH60 formally listed at 11 troops with full equipment (SIK brochure lists at 290lbs/ 130kgs). AW149 brochure shows anywhere from 10-16 seats. H175M lists as 12 - 15 seats.

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/conte...M-brochure.pdf
https://helicopters.leonardo.com/en/products/aw149
https://www.airbus.com/en/products-s...h175m-missions

I doubt very much you could get 16 fully equipped troops into a 149 given the seating type and ability to egress safely into a battle zone so the like for like is likely the 10 seat assault layout in the AW149 vs standard 11 seat in the Hawk and either 12 or 15 in a 175M. I'm still 100% sure I'd rather go into battle in a Hawk with fewer troops, bigger doors, more robust landing gear, weapons hanging off both sides and a famously crashworthy air frame than a 175 or a 149 but that's a personal view of course.

Thanks NWS. I cant see a photo or video of a 149 embarking or disembarking CEMO troops anywhere.

From the Defence Synergia paper (link earlier in forum), taking into account fuel load and typical operating environments.

Lift capacity Internal Space Fully equipped troops lift with 3 crew

Wildcat ~1.2 tonnes 6 sq metres ~5 troops Leonardo
AW149 2.5 tonnes ~ 6.5 sq metres ~6 troops
Airbus H175M <1.6 tonnes ~ 6-7 sq metres ~ 6 troops
Blackhawk 5 tonnes ~ 12 sq metres - ~11 troops

The Blackhawk has double the troop capacity of either the 149 or 175, and at least twice the USL capacity according to their figures. Given the operating cost per hour, this makes LH and Airbus options up to 3 times as expensive to achieve the same section lift.

You can get loads of fully equipped troops into the 149, so long as you put their gear in the boot! Someone link to the Farnborough video!

Most machines don't run seats in combat zones anyway first thing to get dumped , seats are for peactime ops , 4 seats across the back in a UH-60 and one rear facing between the gunners seats and you can fit 18-19 in a B/hawk easy , 5 on seats , 6 sitting in doorway with guns pointing out and 6-8 on the floor in cabin. Std assault load.

Sounds a bit more like it, although 6 is maybe a bit low. I would think 10-12 maybe. Our offshore fit in a 175 is 16 seats, it’s pretty full in there at max load, and of course there’s no bags in there. Disposable is about 2.7 tonnes, but that of course depends on the fit, remove dinghies but add Self Defence kit etc.

Most do actually run seats (whether the customers are strapped in is a different matter), getting off the floor fully laden is difficult and seats are designed to collapse on impact, added to which sitting in the door for a TR failure is not a great idea.

Re Blackhawk 9 and his observation re seats. The unit I joined had B model UH-1s and the lift platoons had the seats across the rear cabin wall, and at was it.
Remembering that experience, when we were involved in a competition with Eurocopter in eastern Turkey, which was in fact a very realistic evaluation ( almost too realistic on one memorable occasion ) we had made a plan beforehand and upon arrival in Diyarbakir, took out all the cabin seats, leaving only the gunners and troop commander seats (3). Thus unencumbered, our typical troop load of Jandarma soldiers ( think infantry ) was 25-26. They were fully armed, spare ammo etc We had installed cargo tie-down straps in a matrix across the floor and had posters made with the assistance of an interpreter, showing how the troops should situate themselves.
Support’ressupply missions included the usual: food/water/ammo. Jandarma eschewed military rations-they used real food, which made for interesting loading challenges: usually we’d slide the cabin door shut on one side and load all the food etc up to the ceiling in the back. Slide the open cabin door shut. The two SA crew and the Turkish pilot would enter thru the gunners windows, strap in and we launched.
The Turkish pilot in the troop commanders seat had the assignment from his command to record every detail of every sortie. A lot of the time, that pilot would not have English.
The evaluation consisted of placing and supporting, various Jandarma platoons as they chased and brought to contact, the PKK terrorist units in far eastern Turkey.
Sound familiar, Blackhawk 9 ?

Brother Dixson must stop this confusing the issue with facts.....it is so unfair.:ok:

I understand that there is a 20-seat fit in current European use for Black Hawks:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fd32c1d38.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....244ba4938.jpeg

Never seen that setup before , Turkey? , only seats that are crashworthy are the 4 x Sik seats along the backwall, obviously not a requirement by that operator. would sooner be on the floor than try and move around those seats with gear on.

hello SAS-re facts: On that first Turkish competition Phil Pacini ( Mayaguez USAF pilot) and I were spelled after 3 months by Gary Kohler ( Cav-Vietnam ) and Andy Evans a West pointer too young for that event. Gary and Andy have the unofficial record: 53 troops-never heard whether they were equipped or even dressed, for that matter!

Blackhawk9 - quite right, uncertified, but a case of 'needs must' for the mil operator during the fire season - I think.

UAE H225s , now going cheap
 

With the news that the UAE has dropped its order for a dozen Caracal's
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/05/...ment-official/
perhaps Airbus should offer the H225 as a late contender.......

Never had to get to seating individuals by weight, but yes, it can get quite tight CofG wise. Sometimes it’s beneficial to have more passengers rather than fewer, to bring the CofG forward enough to get all the bags/fuel in. As long as the troops load from front to back it will probably be fine. In that context anyway…

But looking at the images, if you bin those two centre fore aft row seats, the four rear facing seats, the two outboard (door) forward facing seats and retain the two forward facing inner ones, that gives you the equivalent of a current Puma's fully equipped troop capacity with plenty of room to move around the cabin.. the extra possible seating for other roles is a bonus.

I recall a press release from an MoD/JHC source several years’ ago, saying something along the lines, that the price to sustain the Puma HC2 fleet in-service post 2025 was more than a ‘King’s Ransom’, so I dread to think what the cost to the UK taxpayer will be in its final years of service, until its well overdue OSD arrives.

Yet another example of the UK MoD’s inability to make a procurement selection on time, more so when you note that all three platforms in the run-off are OTS options.