Graham Warwick/Atlanta
THE US MARINE CORPS is to award Bell Helicopter Textron a single prime contract to upgrade its AH-1W SuperCobra and UH-1N Huey dynamic systems and AH-1W cockpit in November 1997. Bell will then conduct a competition on behalf of the USMC to select equipment for the AH-1W cockpit update, which will lag behind the AH-1W/UH-1N four-bladed-rotor upgrade by about two years, says Marine light/attack-helicopter programme manager Capt Steven Fahrenkrog.
A decision to proceed with the upgrade is scheduled for September. A review of the four-bladed UH-1N (4BN) versus the Sikorsky UH-60 has been completed and has favoured the upgrade, says Fahrenkrog, and similar results are expected from a review under way of the four-bladed AH-1W (4BW) versus the McDonnell Douglas AH-64.
The USMC plans to upgrade 180 AH-1Ws and 100 UH-1Ns to keep them in service until 2020, when a joint-service replacement aircraft is expected to emerge, he says. The AH-1W and UH-1N will be upgraded with an identical dynamic system consisting of a four-blade composite main rotor, up-rated 1,955kW (2,625shp) transmission, General Electric T700 engines, auxiliary power unit, improved tail-boom and four-bladed pusher tail-rotor.
Additionally, Fahrenkrog says, the UH-1N fuselage will be stretched by between 250mm and 750mm, "for centre-of-gravity reasons", and the avionics relocated to racks in the additional space provided behind the cockpit. The USMC operates 108 UH-1Ns.
If attrition reduces the number to below 100, some of the US Navy's 34 HH-1Ns will be upgraded, says Fahrenkrog. Alternatively, he says, some single-engined UH-1Hs could be upgraded. This will make the 4BW/4BN update of interest to countries such as Taiwan and Turkey which operate both the AH-1W and the UH-1H, he says.
Funding for development of the dynamic-system upgrade will be provided from 1997, with money for the AH-1W cockpit update becoming available in 1999, Fahrenkrog says. Plans for the 4BW cockpit call for maximum commonality with that of the upgraded UH-1N first, then the Bell Boeing V-22, McDonnell Douglas AV-8B and F-18, he adds.
The USMC plans to fund the first upgraded UH-1Ns in 2002, for delivery in 2004, and the first upgraded AH-1Ws in 2003, for 2005 delivery, Fahrenkrog says.
Source: Flight International
