THE US NAVY HAS cancelled the US Marine Corps Integrated Weapon System (IWS) programme to upgrade the cockpits of its Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters.
The IWS has been dropped in favour of development of a four-blade rotor system for the AH-1W and the USMC's Bell UH-1N Huey tactical transports. Funding is not available for both programmes, and a review of Marine Corps' requirements concluded that the rotor upgrade was a higher priority.
Seven teams are estimated to have spent $30-40 million submitting bids for the $700 million IWS contract. Industry is blaming the cancellation on the UK's selection of the Westland/McDonnell Douglas WAH-64D over the GEC/Bell Cobra Venom.
Had the Venom been selected, under a deal brokered by the USMC, the UK would have supplied the AH-1W cockpit upgrade while the USA developed the four-blade rotor (Flight International, 21-27 June).
It is believed that the existence of this deal led the USMC to back the four-blade rotor when a review of its requirement priorities was launched on 10 May.
The need to upgrade the Cobra cockpit became apparent during the 1991 Gulf War, when crew workload during missions was deemed unacceptably high.
The $1.5 billion upgrade will replace the AH-1W rotor and entire UH-1N dynamic system, and is intended to leave both helicopters with common rotating machinery, including General Electric T700 engines and four-blade bearingless main rotor. Re-engineing with AlliedSignal/ Allison T800s has also been mooted, but this would not offer commonality.
Source: Flight International