Eurocopter has unveiled a heavy transport helicopter (HTH) concept as a potential successor to Sikorsky's CH-53 Super Stallion, and is inviting its USrivals to co-operate on the design's continued development.
Promoted as a potential solution to an emerging German heavylift helicopter requirement and as a candidate for wider NATO needs, the proposed aircraft would have a maximum take-off weight of 36,000kg (79,400lb) and be able to carry up to 70 troops or a 10,000kg payload. With three engines in the 6,700hp (5,000kW) class, the design will have a maximum range of 1,200km (650nm) and a top speed of 160kt (300km/h).
If successful in attracting international support, thefly-by wire aircraft could be in service by 2012, says Eurocopter. However, initial suggestions that the HTH could be the subject of a collaboration between the EADS subsidiary and US manufacturers have been met with an at best lukewarm response from the USA.
Rhett Flater, executive director of the American Helicopter Society, and chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Vertical Airlift Task Force, confirms that Eurocopter has approached Boeing and Sikorsky about a partnership on the future heavylift platform, but says neither is enthusiastic about the idea. Both are reluctant to allow Eurocopter a toehold in the US military helicopter market, he adds.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, is pondering now whether it needs to develop a joint heavylift helicopter programme with NATO, or pursue it as an independent effort. NATO has a requirement for 150 helicopters and the US military 200, but while a joint programme could yield economies of scale, reluctance remains over a pair-up with Europe on a weapons programme, Flater says.
Source: Flight International
