Fri, Jul 21, 2006
One MEAN Helo...
At the Farnborough International Air Show this week, Bell
Helicopter announced its ARH-70A helicopter completed its first two
flights Thursday, July 20, 2006. The aircraft took off from Bell
XworX in Arlington, TX and flew multiple handling maneuvers, flew
in a hover for both in and out of ground effect, and flew in a
traffic pattern reaching 80 knots, 500 ft. altitude, with banks up
to 30 degrees for a little more than 1.5 hours of flight.
Bell says the flights support the ARH program as one of the
fastest 'contract to flight' programs ever completed.
"This is an outstanding day for Bell and our customer, the US
Army," said Bell Chief Executive Officer Mike Redenbaugh. "The
ARH-70A is needed for the war on terror that is being fought by our
military. This flight begins a new phase in the development of the
aircraft and brings it closer to beginning the mission it was
designed to execute."
The first flight also demonstrated the unique ARH teaming
relationship between Bell and the US Army -- with both a Bell and
Army pilot conducting the operations. Bell test pilot Jim
McCollough and Army pilot CW5 Alan Davis performed pilot and
co-pilot operations, proving that the Commercial Off-The-Shelf
(COTS) platform approach can be successfully applied to military
applications.
The ARH-70A is a complete weapons system designed to meet aerial
reconnaissance capabilities to operate with the current and future
force. Equipped with lethal weapons capability, net-centric
connectivity and is equipped for day and night operations. Taken
together the equipped aircraft enables the air-ground maneuver
commander to "see-understand-act first."
"Today's first flight marks a major milestone for the ARH-70A as
the program transitions into the flight test phase," said Bell's
ARH-70A program manager Bill Leonard. "Our Team's focus continues
to be towards the completion of the build and functional test of
the remaining three test aircraft, clearing the path towards a
successful Limited Users Test (LUT), and finishing the production
design."
The program schedule has LUT beginning late 2006 to early 2007,
in order to complete the production award criteria required to
accomplish the first unit equipped in fourth quarter FY 2008 and
Full-Rate production in FY 2009.
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