(NSI News Source Info) January 10, 2009: Boeing has responded to a U.S. Army call for sources sought for its restarted Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program with two alternatives: Boeing’s newly named AH-6S Phoenix and an aircraft the company has loosely nicknamed an Apache “Lite.” 
Boeing Mesa flew its Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) demonstrator for the first time without a safety pilot June 30 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. The modified MD 530F helicopter lifted off from a helipad, hovered briefly, and flew a programmed 20-minute armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission. It returned to the helipad and landed within six inches of the planned recovery location.
The November notice contained several new requirements, including the ability to hover out of ground effect at 6,000 feet and 95 degrees, as well as a key parameter for transport on the C-130 airlifter (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 17, 2008). Boeing is proffering its new Phoenix and a “scout-optimized” Apache with twin engines.
And those two may not be the only helicopters Boeing offers for ARH consideration. The company is “keeping its options open” by talking with other potential industry partners, according to Mike Burke, Boeing’s director of Army rotorcraft business development.
“We can put two Phoenix in the C-130, or 10 in a C-17,” Burke told reporters at a luncheon in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 7. The AH-6S’s modernized systems are patterned after the Block III Apache, Burke said. The AH-6 platform itself is a dusted off version of Boeing’s failed bid for the ARH back in 2005. When Boeing announced it was resurrecting the AH-6, it proposed it as a bid for a burgeoning international market (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 8, 2008). That particular version will now be known as the AH-6I.
Modifications to the AH-6S include a 15-inch addition to the airframe (the “S” in the helo’s designation stands for “stretch”), a new composite main rotor blade and a redesigned commercial “pointy nose” that allows more room for avionics boxes. The highly successful VUIT-2, or video from unmanned aircraft systems for interoperability teaming - level system, which was just recently deployed on Apaches in Iraq, will also play a part on the Phoenix. On the Block III Apaches, Burke said the VUIT-2 system is “integrated, not federated.”
Currently, Lockheed Martin equips the Apache with a system that can be attached to the aircraft and used to communicate with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to identify targets. On the Block III Apache (and on the Phoenix), the technology is all Boeing’s.
Boeing Mesa flew its Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) demonstrator for the first time without a safety pilot June 30 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. The modified MD 530F helicopter lifted off from a helipad, hovered briefly, and flew a programmed 20-minute armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission. It returned to the helipad and landed within six inches of the planned recovery location.
The November notice contained several new requirements, including the ability to hover out of ground effect at 6,000 feet and 95 degrees, as well as a key parameter for transport on the C-130 airlifter (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 17, 2008). Boeing is proffering its new Phoenix and a “scout-optimized” Apache with twin engines.
And those two may not be the only helicopters Boeing offers for ARH consideration. The company is “keeping its options open” by talking with other potential industry partners, according to Mike Burke, Boeing’s director of Army rotorcraft business development.
“We can put two Phoenix in the C-130, or 10 in a C-17,” Burke told reporters at a luncheon in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 7. The AH-6S’s modernized systems are patterned after the Block III Apache, Burke said. The AH-6 platform itself is a dusted off version of Boeing’s failed bid for the ARH back in 2005. When Boeing announced it was resurrecting the AH-6, it proposed it as a bid for a burgeoning international market (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 8, 2008). That particular version will now be known as the AH-6I.
Modifications to the AH-6S include a 15-inch addition to the airframe (the “S” in the helo’s designation stands for “stretch”), a new composite main rotor blade and a redesigned commercial “pointy nose” that allows more room for avionics boxes. The highly successful VUIT-2, or video from unmanned aircraft systems for interoperability teaming - level system, which was just recently deployed on Apaches in Iraq, will also play a part on the Phoenix. On the Block III Apaches, Burke said the VUIT-2 system is “integrated, not federated.”
Currently, Lockheed Martin equips the Apache with a system that can be attached to the aircraft and used to communicate with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to identify targets. On the Block III Apache (and on the Phoenix), the technology is all Boeing’s. The system (for now called simply VUIT-2-like by Boeing) will be fully integrated into the aircraft and will provide both waypoint control of the UAV directly from the cockpit, as well as actual flight control.
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