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Published: 2010-02-07 05:52:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 23656; Favourites: 177; Downloads: 1145
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Description
L.H.X.Light Helicopter Experimental (LHX) program was a 1980s United States Army helicopter procurement project to replace the AH-1 Cobra and OH-58 helicopters.
Advanced Composite Airframe Program
In support of the LHX program the United States Army started the Advanced Composite Airframe Program (ACAP) to develop an all-composite helicopter fuselage.[1] In February 1981 contracts were awarded to Sikorsky (for the Sikorsky S-75) and Bell Helicopter (for the Bell D-292).
[edit] LHX
In 1982 the U.S. Army started the Light Helicopter Experimental (LHX) program to replace UH-1, AH-1, OH-6, and OH-58 helicopters. This requirement was changed to a reconnaissance helicopter by 1988.
A Request for proposals for the new helicopter type was released in June 1988. In October 1988, the Boeing-Sikorsky and Bell-McDonnell Douglas teams received contracts for their designs. The program's name was changed to Light Helicopter (LH) in 1990.[4] In April 1991, the Boeing-Sikorsky team was selected as the contest winner and received a contract to build four prototypes. Also that month the helicopter was designated "RAH-66 Comanche" by the Army.
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Comments: 10
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I'mΒ basing a stealth helicopter design of this.Β
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Sorry, I realized the landing gear was wrong and I had to take it down to fix it.Β
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The final SuperTeam configuration of the LHX ended up looking nothing like this sleek, sharklike, beauty. Being instead something like a cubist version of the AH-1F Cobra. Very ugly.
There is actually some debate whether the concept artwork on which this 4 View is based was ever 'real' so much as good showmanship.
IMO, it was.
The MMR would have stolen at least 15 knots of speed and so doesn't belong. Longbow (even as the AAWS-H) didn't exist at the time this configuration was first shown in 1984 or so and the EOTAS targeting system was mounted in the extension to the forward part of the transmission doghouse, giving a very clean nose without all the bums and lumps of a turreted installation you show.
The use of a roofsight did not require as much of the airframe to rise above terrain mask as the nose installation to achieve line of sight and allowed the CPG to sit behind the pilot.
ALQ-144 would _not_ have been mounted as that jammer is actually a beacon attractor (think bug lamp) to many modern shoulderfire missiles and the RCS penalty isn't worth it's electrical consumption or thermal load.
The more likely jammer would be the ALQ-212 ATIRCM which was turreted, mounted on the wingtips and used sectored not 360` lamp technology (later versions use lasers).
The secret of the McDonnell LHX was that it clung to the original '180 to 300 knot' performance specification of the pre-1988 LHX (not LH) requirement.
As such, it was capable of cruising at 200+ knots with the benefit of a VTDP like tail thruster. The very wide 'hips' of the fuselage:tail boom break were to allow for the mounting of a _huge_ NOTAR fan (nearly 40") to support this pusher hybrid thrust capability.
Mass flow was so high that the exhausts for both engines had to be ducted out the port side of the fuselage (@ increased IR signature penalty) so that a NACA conformal inlet could feed the enormous trunking of the fan plenum from the starboard side.
The 'panel lines' of the boom are inaccurate because the aft fuselage was not facetted like the RAH-66 but rather almost circular in crosssection This was a compromise for the speed requirement in that the Super Team LHX had very good frontal RCS reduction but only median flank and aft quarter RCS.
There _were_ longitudinal reinforcement strips on the outside of the boom to help stiffen the hollow composite structure.
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pretty helicopter why didnt the army ever accept it into service
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The addition of the MMS helps. I still have the computer game that uses this design. And don't bad-mouth the Commanche, just because some bureaucrats got a hold of the spec sheet. But wasn't the Bell-Micky D LHX a single seater, a la Ka-57 Werewolf?
Oh, BTW, sweet illustration!
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To me, this one simply LOOKS a TON better than the RAH-66
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The Bell-McDonnell Douglas LHX always seemed like the better choice to me; it had a simpler rotor, a cleaner airframe, a wider canopy, NOTAR, and a larger internal bay.
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