U.S. Airlift Programs Advance

Defense News | May 12, 2003 | Frank Tiboni

[Stand Watch Listen]

After six years of planning, and three name and two profile changes, the U.S. Army will submit plans May 24 for a new transport aircraft due in service by 2008, say Army aviation officials.

Meanwhile, the U.S Marine Corps and Air Force Special Operations continue testing of the overhauled V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.

The Army's newest transport vehicle idea, the Air-Maneuver and Transport (AMT) aircraft, would carry 20 tons and be capable of flying 310 miles round trip. AMT’s hefty cargo capacity would let it haul one land vehicle of the Future Combat System (FCS), the next generation of air and ground vehicles the service plans to begin fielding in 2008.

The Army will consider tilt-rotor, tilt-wing and rotorcraft technologies for AMT, the service's top aviation official said.

"[We're asking] where can we go with this and get the kind of capability we're looking for, so that’s why we haven't narrowed ourselves," Maj. Gen. John Curran, commanding general of the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., said May 1.

AMT likely will use tilt-rotor or rotorcraft technologies because their development, production and testing are further along, Curran said. But the service is not ruling out tilt-wing technology for the new aircraft, he said.

The Army wants a vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft because it could deploy FCS to remote areas vs. easily accessible, easily targeted ports and airstrips.

AMT will not replace the 1960s-era CH-47 Chinook, the Army's premier cargo helicopter, but complement it, Curran said.

The Army today flies 429 Chinooks and plans to operate 444 as part of its future Objective Force. The AMT fleet number is being studied, Curran said.

AMT eventually could replace the C-130, a 1950s-era aircraft that initially will ferry FCS.

AMT began in 1997 as the Joint Tactical Rotorcraft, which would carry 8 to 10 tons and replace Chinook.

But by 1999, the program received little interest from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. In 2001, it was renamed Future Tactical Rotorcraft, which was supposed to ferry 8 to 12 tons. However, as FCS program requirements and vehicle weights changed, the aircraft no longer met Army needs.

The Future Tactical Rotorcraft moniker was changed in 2003 to AMT to meet Objective Force airlift requirements, Curran said.

Army aviation officials on May 24 will submit AMT's plans, or the Initial Capability Document, to the service's Training and Doctrine Command. It provided the air vehicle's profile, or mission area analysis, mission needs analysis and mission needs statement to the Fort Monroe, Va.-based installation on March 5, and it was later approved.

But an Army aviation official cautioned the document could change as FCS unfolds.

"Once we know what the FCS weight is going to be, then we can finalize what our requirements will be within AMT," the official said.

V-22 Presses Forward

The Osprey would not fill the Army’s requirement because the tiltrotor has only a 10-ton cargo capacity. The V-22 joint program office is preparing for a meeting with top Pentagon officials May 20 for what is likely to be the last major review of the $46 billion program before Pentagon acquisition chief Edward "Pete" Aldridge's retirement.

Program officials expect to discuss the cost of the tilt-rotor aircraft, which by 2010 is projected to be $68 million each. They will present some proposals for reducing that amount by $10 million, including a possible multiyear procurement plan.

The Marine Corps wants to buy 360 MV-22s to replace its Vietnam-era CH-46 Sea Knight transport helicopters.

The Air Force Special Operations Command, which wants to replace its aging MH-53 Pave Lows, hopes to purchase 50 of the CV-22 variant, which will have terrain-following radar, threat-warning instruments, infrared and radio countermeasures, and fuel tanks that carry 900 extra gallons.

Gail Kaufman contributed to this report.

[toddst]

Looks like tilt-rotor aircraft are proven enough to be produced in quantity. Not surprised.

Thanks for the post. Most interesting.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

V-44 Quad Tilt Rotor.

[GOP_1900AD]

Bump for the removal of the lack of airlift excuse used to promote an army incapable of taking on heavy armor tet a tet. Once the excuse is removed, we can built whatever heavy armor we need to get the job done.