Posted: 11/9/2006 7:39:18 PM EDT
Take that Blackhawk primadonnas!!! By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 36 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Air Force awarded a lucrative contract Thursday for search and rescue combat helicopters to a team led by aerospace giant Boeing Co. ADVERTISEMENT Chicago-based Boeing beat out rival Lockheed Martin Corp. and helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft for the contract to build 141 helicopters by 2019 for the Air Force's fleet of rescue aircraft, known as the Combat Search and Rescue program. The initial contract award is for $712 million; the program may be worth as much as $13 billion. Some Wall Street and industry analysts had thought Maryland-based Lockheed would win. The Lockheed version had a roomier cabin and three powerful engines and was cheaper than Boeing's, a modified version of its CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The helicopters will be built at Boeing's plant in Ridley Park, Pa., near Philadelphia. About 200 new engineering jobs will be created initially, with more jobs expected as production moves forward. There are currently about 4,800 employees in Ridley Park, Boeing spokesman Joseph LaMarca Jr. said. The decision to award the contract to Boeing is the latest blow to Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies Corp., which sought to replace its own Pave Hawk helicopters that the Air Force has flown since 1982 on rescue missions. Sikorsky, based in Stratford, Conn., spent about $1 billion developing the new S-92 model, according to analyst estimates, but it has yet to find a U.S. government buyer. Sikorsky has a deal to provide 28 to the Canadian government. Boeing called the Air Force decision a vote of confidence in the company. A team led by Lockheed had offered the US-101, the same helicopter selected last year for the Navy's presidential helicopter, Marine One. Boeing also teamed with Sikorsky to offer the S-92, a newer helicopter mostly used by offshore oil companies. The Navy's decision to award the presidential helicopter fleet to Lockheed and its international partners, including the British-Italian company, AgustaWestland, sparked animated debate over buy-America issues. Earlier this week, Boeing got a boost when FedEx Corp. became the first customer to cancel an order for Airbus' much delayed A380 superjumbo jets and said it would buy Boeing 777s. FedEx cited production delays for its decision to retract an order for 10 double-decker A380s. Its FedEx Express unit has ordered 15 Boeing 777 freighters with a list price of $3.5 billion and taken options on an additional 15 planes. ___ Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Washington and Stephen Manning in College Park, Md., contributed to this report. |
No… Chinook is very fast, 150+kts, can fly as far as it can be fefuelled and the big plus is the self defence capability. V-22, max one M-60 on a pintle on the rear ramp. Chinook, 3 7.62 miniguns on flex mounts. Add in that the Chinook is tough as a tank and able to withstand a shitload of battle damage, (one of ours on a casevac mission took multiple small arms hits, over 100 holes in the airframe, and a hit from an RPG, bellied in tearing all the undercart off, took onboard the casualty, then took off and flew 200 miles home in Afghanistan), and reliable as the day is long and what's not to like?  And it's surprisingly agile! ANdy |
Our people love the Chinook… 'BN' the Chinnok that you see in all the pictures from the Falklands War in 1982 is still going strong and is working in Afghanistan at the moment. ANdy |
They've got those, too! |
I'm a Chinook guy for 10 years now. I have experience with most of the Army's fleet of aircraft and the Chinook is the fastest, heaviest hauling, best inside load capacity, most reliable, highest flying, most versatile, longest range, easiest to work on helicopter we have. It footprint isn't that much bigger than a Blackhawk either.
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painted on the belly? | The Chinook can be bought or updated to just about any technology level you want. Its all how much you want to spend. Our pilots (Army) would really like to get FLIR. It makes night and bad weather operation much easier and safer. The F models that I hear we will be getting in the next few years will have the glass cockpit and some other improvements but I haven't heard if it will hAve FLIR. |
Supposedly, the airframe work is a pain in the ass (lots of 'unique' parts to make)... But DynCorp does most of that here... P.S. The Air Force 'Got Both'... They have an order in for V-22s as well... |
'Tactical Approach'… SOP for our nutters! ANdy |
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Chairborne's Professional Opinion Thread Here's a thread Chairborne posted in a fervor last night. He obviously knows what's best for CSAR and the Air force.  I, as a Gunner of Pavehawks, can't wait to fly on the "Pavehook." ~Dg84 |
+1 i would have pissed and crapped in my pants...that is an awesome picture |
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wow, chairborne's thread had more stupidity per page than your average airsoft or religion thread. i hate the shithook, my dad (a 16,000+ hr army aviator and test pilot) hates the shithook, but you cannot deny that it is the only bird around that can do what it does, as well as it does. perhaps the dumbest thing i read over there is someone saying the 'hook is slow. WTF. empty with crew she will haul ass. she will run flat out with a Dauphin or a westland lynx which is a signifigant accomplishment. and outlift both of them put together. This might be the smartest purchase the airforce has made in over a decade. |
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There is a show on Discovery, Military Factory, or something like that, where one of the guys from The Apprentice, who was the West Point Grad, goes around to different places, and looks at stuff like M-1A Tanks, Battle Helmuts, Mini-Guns..... AND, he goes to the Boeing Plant in Philly, where they are building NEW CH-47's for the army..... Pretty neat show......I'm not sure that the Chinook is the best helo for the job.....I would have thought MORE MH-53's would have been better, BUT, I wasn't on the flight test..... AND, at least they didn't try to pick an F-22 or F-35 for the job!!! |
Compared to the V-22 the Chinook is slow. |
AyeGuy, you're right... compared to the V-22 it is slow. BUT, the V-22 DOES NOT do what we, in the rescue community, need it to do. Have you seen the video of PJ's trying to Fastrope and hoist from the thing? If you want to get troops from point "A" to point "B" (where "B" has not runway) it's great. But try to do the shit the AF needs it to do in a CSAR roll and it just doesn't work. As a helicopter guy it pains me to say it... but I thing tilt-wing is the future. Just not yet... ~Dg84 |