You joining up again?.....................
Found this article yesterday in Boeing News....................
Thirty years since the U.S. Army retired the Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe, Erickson is looking to offer a more capable version of the helicopter for use by the U.S. military.
Oregon-based Erickson, which owns the type certificate for the Sikorsky-designed S-64 Skycrane--known as the CH-54 in Army service--is currently developing an upgraded version that it believes could fit a niche role as a logistics heavy-lifter, allowing types such as Boeing's CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky's CH-53E/K Stallion helicopters to move to the front lines. Erickson is planning for the S-64F+ Aircrane--first revealed at Heli-Expo 2020--to feature yet-to-be-disclosed new engines, composite main rotor blades and Sikorsky's Matrix autonomous technology that would allow it to be operated in an optionally piloted configuration. The S-64F+ is not your "grandfather's CH-54," Erickson VP for global sustainment Mark Cooper told a company-led webinar on Feb. 23. "The S-64F+ will be a modern aircraft ready for today's mission," he said.
While the company showed concept videos of Army and Marine Corps S-64F+ operating in warzones, Erickson officials suggest the aircraft may be better suited to operations with contractors working with the military.
Cooper said large helicopters on the battlefield today were doing "mundane tasks of having to move big stuff from point A to point B."
"The S-64F+ allows other operators to do that on behalf of the government while freeing up some of the wartime platforms like the CH-53K or the CH-47 for military support operations," Cooper added.
Cargo options
The configuration of the Aircrane design means that it can lift a wide range of cargo including ISO containers. Erickson noted that the aircraft also can carry up-armored vehicles such as the military's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
"Our airframe is extremely unique. It is the only very large helicopter without a fuselage...you can put anything underneath this thing," Erickson director of research and development Jeff Baxter said. "The advent of new blades and engines, and this new, optionally piloted fly-by-wire capability really pushes this to a new generation of aircraft."
As well as a military role, Erickson sees increased demand in the coming years for the platform as an aerial firefighting aircraft to deal with worsening forest fire seasons that last longer and increasingly require firefighting aircraft to be based in both hemispheres.
Erickson had planned to fly a firefighting demonstration of the Matrix-equipped S-64F+ during 2021, but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed those plans into 2022. The company is hopeful of making the S-64F+ model available to the market in 2024.
Erickson is developing a new method of collecting water. Currently the S-64s use a snorkel to suck up water while in a low hover, but a new hydrofoil design means that the pilots will be able to maintain forward flight over water. This is crucial when collecting seawater as it reduces the chance of corrosive saltwater spray landing on the aircraft.
The company is manufacturing new S-64s from the airframes of ex-Army CH-54s, but these are in increasingly short supply, so Erickson is digitizing the production process so it can build S-64s from scratch when demand picks up in the "next couple of years," Erickson VP for aerosystems Jeff Mecklenburg said.
Hope everyone is doing well in the group..........
Cheers
Hoss
