Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
Boeing and Sikorsky plan to accelerate RAH-66 Comanche helicopter flight and system testing in a move to reduce development risk.
This coincides with the US Congress signalling its intent to pay much closer scrutiny to the helicopter programme.
Key members of the House Appropriations Committee defence panel warn that Comanche is the next programme targeted for review after it forced a major shake-up of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter project. This follows General Accounting Office criticism warning of "significant risks" attached to RAH-66 engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), due to start in April.
"I would have to say I'm concerned about it because you really want to make sure [Congress] has the right information," says Arthur Linden, Boeing Sikorsky's Comanche programme director. "We think some of the current things they're saying are not correct."
The helicopter is required to meet several performance and capability exit criteria before EMD can begin. To meet these, the newly approved 1999/2000 defence budget contains $467 million in Comanche funding. This includes an extra $40 million this year, while the army wants a further $56 million increase in 2000/01.
Meeting the exit criteria is not dependent on the extra funding, says Linden, but it does "allow us to move forward faster and get the risk reduced sooner-it gets us into some technical areas more quickly and find out if there are any unknowns. The sooner we find out, the better the programme will be."
The extra money will be used to extend flight testing of the two prototypes and accelerate part of the mission equipment package (MEP). The second machine, dedicated to MEP testing, faced grounding until 2001 for lack of funds. "This probably buys us another six to eight months flying," says Linden.
Around 75% of the funds will be used to advance MEP testing, such as the RAH-66's Lockheed Martin electro-optical sensor system (EOSS), Kaiser helmet-mounted display and sight, and an integrated communications, navigation and identification system.
Lockheed Martin wants to accelerate the EOSS target acquisition and designation system, not due for delivery until July 2002.
Source: Flight International
