Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche

[yasotay]

Best one I can find on short notice... this is the heavy (internal) Hellfire configuration. There was also a four shot 2.75 inch rocket pod developed for the Comanche that would fit inside the weapon bay. Also a two shot Stinger missile configuration for internal.

 

[AeroFranz]

Well, this is already much better than a grainy cutaway shot I had.
Thanks!

 

[flateric]

Another shot by (c) Cristopher Madeira found on Flickr

Plus remains of original RAH-66 full-scale mockup (more here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35096922@N00/tags/comanche/

 

[flateric]

RAH-66 weapon carriage flexibility

 

[flateric]

RAH-66 IRAMS (Integrated Retractable Aircraft Munitions Subsystem)

 

[flateric]

RAH-66 EFAMS (Enchanced Fuel/Armament Management System) details

 

[flateric]

RAH-66 gun, gun turret and EOSS details

 

[AeroFranz]

I love how i never leave this forum empty handed ;D
yet again, my sincerest thanks!

 

[flateric]

RAH-66 bearingless rotor system details + more on pilot's displays

Original paper with all that stuff http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA328540 Enjoy!

ADA328540
Helicopter/Weapon System Integration (l'Integration des systemes d'armes des helicopteres).
Corporate Author : ADVISORY GROUP FOR AEROSPACE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE (FRANCE)
Report Date : JUL 1997

 

[flateric]

Highly recommend for all RAH-66 Comanche nuts. Tons of rare flight tests footage, including Fantail prototype, test articles and simulators, interviews with test pilots and Sikorsky fligh tests team. Awesome. Can be bought separately, or better as a part of Test Pilots 5-DVD pack, first three disks of this are reissued 1999 documentary narrated by Alec Baldwin - includes F/A-22 tests at Edwards, ATF fly-off memories from Metz and many other cool stuff.

P.S. Also available on eBay

 

[bagera3005]

-

 

[flateric]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Helicopter-RAH-66-Comanche-Cyclic-Collective-Both_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ39Q3a1Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem290268431513QQitemZ290268431513#ht_500wt_0

wanna bit of RAH-66 for your household appliances?

 

[bagera3005]

only if a can mount them to my joy stick for use in bf2

 

[Stuka]

Hmmm...... Something fishy here.

 

[flateric]

hmmm...replica, may be?

 

[flateric]

courtesy my wallet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IJRsjH2-vU

 

[yasotay]

Ah that sure brings back memories. Lots of familiar faces and sites down Ft. Lauderdale way. Last (almost) US made helicopter.

 

[flateric]

Courtesy Al Huber aka Yasotay - with sincere thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBE8RHEXUEk

 

[RavenOne]

Re: RAH-66 Comanche at Farnborough 98

Took these shots on the first day of SBAC in 98

 

[Lampshade111]

Looking at this aircraft kinda depresses me. I wish we had some in service.

At first I thought cancelling the RAH-66 Comanche was a poor decision, but later I began to see the reasoning behind it and figured it was probably a good choice. Yet I don't know what to think now that we have managed to screw up the ARH-70A which was suppposed to be a quick and cheap replacement for the OH-58D.

Was there any thought of using the M230 30x113mm chaingun or another weapon in the same caliber instead of the of the 20x102mm XM301?

 

[flateric]

BTW, interesting XM301 stuff for sale at eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=350124388708&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=022#ebayphotohosting

 

[Speedy]

Hi

(sorry for my English)

Was there any thought of using the M230 30x113mm chaingun or another weapon in the same caliber instead of the of the 20x102mm XM301?

I don't know. But I think the 20x102 weapon, fast shooting with a flat trajectory ammo, was better choice for Comanche (secondary purpose of RAH-66 were air-to-air missions against helicopters and UAVs). Moreover, it was small plane; AFAIK in initial phase of project, an even lighter gun was provided for Comanche - a light 12,7x99 multi-barrel gun. But later GD was able to design 20 mm weapon with similar weight and dimensions.

 

[flateric]

nice Comanche video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KowG55WJw-M&feature=channel

 

[yasotay]

Interesting video. I wish I had my "defense speak, circa 2000" counter out. I think they used every spin word in the book. This was about the time we started telling everyone that it could do everything including making toast.

 

[yasotay]

Another picture from an old briefing...

 

[flateric]

Comanche electrical system mock-up, propulsion system test rig and mission equipment simulator

 

[Triton]

Photographs of the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche.


Sources:
http://i32.tinypic.com/2i73k10.jpg
http://www.dincerdegre.com/weblog/yazi/boeingsikorsky-rah-66-comanche-helikopter-resim-ve-video/
http://www.forte.jor.br/2009/02/01/rah-66-comanche-o-helicoptero-que-foi-abatido-pelos-uav/
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=49
http://www.cardesign.ru/portfolio/pro/218/552/4353/

 

[Triton]

Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche video from Aviation Files on the Discovery Wings channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0R1ISQAmqk


Photographs of the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche.


Sources:
http://www.heliport.de/hubschrauber/militaer-hubschrauber/sikorsky-boeing-rah-66-comanche/
http://forum.hardmob.com.br/showthread.php?t=378091
http://kr.blog.yahoo.com/kiharain2003/13584.html?p=2&t=3
http://www.gam3tnascu.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2224

 

[Jeb]

I always loved the look of the Comanche in flight. There was something reptilian and organic about it. It just amazes me how advanced concepts like this and the F-23 (for example) make it so far along and then just get flat-dropped. I know the money to keep them flying would have to come from somewhere, but it's still sad.

 

[yasotay]

I always loved the look of the Comanche in flight. There was something reptilian and organic about it. It just amazes me how advanced concepts like this and the F-23 (for example) make it so far along and then just get flat-dropped. I know the money to keep them flying would have to come from somewhere, but it's still sad.

It really was a good helicopter. I saw it down in Florida several times and it never failed to impress this helicopter pilot. It would have been a superb attack aircraft, but given the changes to what the scout has to look for now, people hiding in caves and alleys vice tank columns, I still think the right decision was made to terminate the program.

 

[Triton]

Found this very interesting research paper on DTIC and thought that I would share it.


Comanche Helicopter Program - A Strategic Failure
by Colonel Robert W. Werthman, United States Army
Army War College Carlisle Barracks PA


Handle / proxy Url: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA467794

Abstract

The Army initiated the RAH-66 Comanche Helicopter as the Light Helicopter Family (LHX) in 1983 with early cost estimates of five million dollars per helicopter. In March 2004, after 22 years, 6 program restructurings, and 6.9 billion dollars, the Army Chief of Staff terminated the Comanche with the intent to reallocate 14.6 billion dollars programmed through 2011 to restructure Army Aviation. This paper explores the possibility that shortsighted threat analysis coupled with flawed group consensus within the Army allowed the Comanche Helicopter Program to continue through two decades despite intense Congressional scrutiny. Army senior level leadership safeguarded a helicopter program that did not adequately explore alternatives to transformation even when the threat environment called for a change in strategy. The Army's failure to adequately foster critical thinking about aviation threats resulted in a current helicopter force that was not adequately postured for the Global War on Terror.

 

[donnage99]

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2135105/RAH_66_Comanche

 

[Colonial-Marine]

I used to have a nice Sikorsky poster of one of the RAH-66 prototypes on the ground against the sunset. Few other things on it I can't remember either. It might be packed in a box somewhere but does anybody have an idea of the one I am talking about?

It seems a damn shame that we couldn't have come up with some excuse to produce the RAH-66. Even if we did however I think it would be smart to have a cheaper "simple" scout helicopter like the ARH-70 as well.

 

[TomS]

It seems a damn shame that we couldn't have come up with some excuse to produce the RAH-66.

I recall a couple of proposals to develop the RAH-66 Block II Heavy Attack version (the one with the external pylons) into a direct replacement for the Apache as a true attack helicopter.

 

[Stuka]

I used to have a nice Sikorsky poster of one of the RAH-66 prototypes on the ground against the sunset.

Do you mean this poster? In the air not on the ground though.

Here's a powerpoint presentation circa 2004 from redstone.army.mil:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9RAXIB98

 

[flateric]

...

 

[donnage99]

CRS report for Congress on the issue of RAH-66, at the time very controversial:
https://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/3354/RS20522_20021114.pdf

 

[F-14D]

I used to have a nice Sikorsky poster of one of the RAH-66 prototypes on the ground against the sunset. Few other things on it I can't remember either. It might be packed in a box somewhere but does anybody have an idea of the one I am talking about?

It seems a damn shame that we couldn't have come up with some excuse to produce the RAH-66. Even if we did however I think it would be smart to have a cheaper "simple" scout helicopter like the ARH-70 as well.

Some (including me) thought the project was doomed from the start when Army lowered the requirements to specify a conventional rotorcraft. As a result, the airframe (as opposed to the electronics within) was not that much of an advance and made it a hard "sell", given its cost vs. performance, IMHO.

 

[Colonial-Marine]

Some (including me) thought the project was doomed from the start when Army lowered the requirements to specify a conventional rotorcraft. As a result, the airframe (as opposed to the electronics within) was not that much of an advance and made it a hard "sell", given its cost vs. performance, IMHO.

What non-conventional designs were looked at?

 

[Dynoman]

The Bell-McDonnell Douglas Super Team had a relatively conventional design with NOTAR and Bell also pitched the tilt rotar BAT.