PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Mechanism for identifying potential delays in place following US DoD decision to reduce order to 650 machines
The restructured Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche programme is facing a subsystem level critical design review (CDR), as the joint venture starts to tackle the key issue of costs in the wake of the US Department of Defense's decision to slash the US Army's planned order to 650 machines.
A comprehensive mechanism for measuring progress across the 46 integrated programme teams (IPT) is now in place, combining a schedule performance index with key monthly milestones that must be met. Industry and the army have access to the same system and so "there is no hiding anything", says Chuck Allen, Boeing-Sikorsky programme manager.
The system has already identified potential delays including the flight control system, with developer BAE Systems indicating that it will miss the CDR goal. "The biggest concern is software and the biggest concern of that is flight controls. There are things you can slip and get around, but flight controls stop you in your tracks," says Allen, who adds he remains confident that, with help, the issue is manageable.
A number of CDRs have already concluded, the largest being the fuselage and TRW Integrated Communications Navigation and Identification system (ICNIA). ACDR of the total weapons system is targeted for May, at which point the RAH-66 design will be 85% complete. This will include the Lockheed Martin Electro-Optical Sensor System (EOSS), in addition to the ICNIA, flight controls and air vehicle structure.
EOSS comprises two second generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, a solid state television sensor and a laser designator/range finder for targeting and night vision piloting and will be the first significant sub-system delivered to the RAH-66 system integration laboratory.
"EOSS will be one of the most critical events in 2003. If it's not right we don't want it, but we want it right and want it in June," says Col Robert Birmingham, US Army Comanche programme manager.
The recent Defense Acquisition Board decision to reduce the buy from 1,213 RAH-66s has pushed the average unit cost up from $22.5 million to over $32 million. However, the overall programme cost remains the same, with savings from the smaller production run being ploughed into a twofold increase, to $6.5 billion, in system development and demonstration funding. Another $1.1 billion has been diverted into providing the Block 2 RAH-66 with the ability to control unmanned air vehicles in the air, and upgrading the Boeing AH-64D.
Boeing-Sikorsky is seeking savings as part of a design-to-cost exercise over the next four months as suppliers examine what materials and components should and must cost. "This is where we hope to get the cost out of the programme," says Allen.
The US Army continues to push for 819 helicopters to fully meet frontline, support and training requirements. Full rate production is scheduled to begin in 2011-12 at a rate of 60 helicopters a year and not finish before 2019. As a result a follow-on order does not become an issue until 2016, says Birmingham.
The new schedule calls for the first five systems development and demonstration machines to fly in June 2005, followed in late 2006 by the delivery of four test and training helicopters. From 2007 the army plans three annual low-rate initial production batches totalling 73 Block 1 RAH-66s, to provide an initial operational capability by September 2009. This will be followed by 106 Block 2 Comanches before moving to Block 3 in 2012.
Beyond Block 3, identified improvements include weight reductions; a further upgrade of the Honeywell/Rolls-Royce LHTEC T800-802 engine, drivetrain and rotors; a third generation FLIR; and enhanced reliability for which there is no identified funding.
The more immediate focus is on keeping SDD on schedule to maintain support for the programme. "Congress gave us a bye this year as we're restructuring. They're not going to give us another if we're not performing," says Birmingham.
Source: Flight International
