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View Full Version : US Army LUH competition - Your opinion



hot222
June 9th, 2006, 06:15 PM
US Army is going to choose the new LUH for 322 helicopters.

Competitors are:

1. MD-900 Notar (Thanx rotorguy!)
2. Eurocopter EC-145
3. Bell 412
4. Agusta Westland AW-139

My opinion: The awsome AW-139!



dreamwarrior73
June 13th, 2006, 01:29 AM
how come there is no Sikorsky candidate?
Big-E
June 13th, 2006, 01:51 AM
My opinion: nothing comes close to US139.;)
hot222
June 13th, 2006, 05:58 PM
I believe that US Army wanted a "from-the-self" helicopter, cause no money for extra developement. Times are tough. The took an amount (72 m$) from that project (LUH) to put more armor at humvees.
rotorguy
June 14th, 2006, 08:12 PM
Its the MD Explorer 900 that is in the competition.
The reason they want a C.O.T.S. (Commercial off the shelf) airframe is:
1-so they can field these airframes faster
2-to free up armed airframes for deployment overseas
3-to have an airframe to deploy stateside for Homeland Security, disaster relief, Border Patrol etc.
4- to retire an aging fleet of hueys and 58A-C in AD and in the NG
5-the list goes on...
heres a link to a good article on it:
http://www.aviationtoday.com/cgi/rw/show_mag.cgi?pub=rw&mon=0506&file=rotorcraftreport.htm

I also think they took money from the LUH funds for IED detection overseas.
probably for armor too though.
On that same topic, I just read on the front page of this site that the new funds for FY07 have been approved so we should have an answer whop wins within a couple of weeks!Exciting stuff!
I would be happy with any of the competitors except the Bell entry, not because of the Helicopter but because Bell has already won the ARH contract. It seems like this one should go to one of the others.
NOTAR for the National Guard!
Go MD
-rotorguy
hot222
June 16th, 2006, 11:39 AM
Check this for the AW-139.

http://www.rotorandwing-digital.com/rotorandwing/200606/
rotorguy
June 21st, 2006, 11:51 PM
has anyone heard anything new on this contract?
I've heard June 30th, I just wonder if they will release it sooner?
Magoo
June 22nd, 2006, 08:06 AM
how come there is no Sikorsky candidate?

There is...Sikorsky is going to be the US Prime on Eurocopter's UH 145 bid. Hands down, this is an awesome helo that probably most closely matches the LUH requirement...hopefully it can overcome the political issues of being a Euro helo.

As much as I love the AW139, I think it may be a little large for the requirement.

Magoo