I remember when I was a teenager I watched some Hollywood movie, and there this helicopter famously shot and destroyed everything around. Well, just a unique weapon of the unique American army.
What happened in reality?
The idea to create a new helicopter originated in the minds of the American military in the early 80s. The Cold War after the detente of the seventies found a second wind, the probable enemy was clear - the USSR and its allies. The Warsaw Pact countries had an overwhelming superiority both in quantity and in the quality of armored vehicles over NATO countries. Naturally, the Americans needed a means to combat this technique, primarily with tanks. According to many military theorists, the most effective means of fighting tanks was a specialized helicopter armed with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).
In December 1982, the report "Research in the field of the use of US Army aviation" was prepared, which proved the inability of the outdated Bell AN-1 and Bell OH-58 helicopters to carry out combat missions in the face of opposition from the air defense of the Warsaw Pact countries.
"Veterans" of the Vietnam War are being written off
Bell AH-1 Cobra entered service in 1967, later dubbed the "veteran" of the Vietnam War. At one time, the technical capabilities of the machine were impressive - the maximum speed in horizontal flight was 315 km / h, the flight range was 510 km. This helicopter had two 7.62 mm machine guns and an AGM-71 rocket launcher.
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Its peer - Bell OH-58 Kiowa (adopted in 1967) - flew slower, but further - its maximum speed in horizontal flight - 222 km / h, but the flight range - 556 km. But the armament of this helicopter was much more powerful - it already carried two missile systems - "Surface-to-air" and AGM-114.
In 1983, the US Department of Defense announced the start of development of a new light multipurpose helicopter under the LHX (Light Helicopter Experimental) program. The new helicopter was supposed to be developed in two versions: reconnaissance and strike (SCAT) and multipurpose (UTIL).
Mission Impossible - goals and objectives of the "helicopter of the future"
The terms of reference of the US Department of Defense included several difficult and difficult tasks for those times - the implementation of combat missions in any climatic zone, in highland and lowland areas, day and night.
The key points were the requirement to achieve a high maximum speed - 180 km / h more than that of any helicopter in service. In other words - 500 km / h! The second task is to drastically reduce visibility in the visual, acoustic, radar and infrared ranges.
"Fight" for a tidbit
The LHX helicopter at the request of the US Army was to be developed on a competitive basis. By 1994, it was planned to build 6 thousand helicopters, the total development cost of which was estimated at 2.8 billion dollars, and the cost of production reached 36 billion, which made the LHX program the largest of all helicopter projects. The winning firm would provide itself with work, and hence profit, for the next 20-25 years. Four leading aircraft-building companies - Bell, Boeing-Vertol, Sikorsky and Hughes - entered a tough fight for the right to create a promising helicopter. The projects presented by the firms were very different from each other. The Sikorsky firm offered a coaxial helicopter with an additional pusher rotor in an annular fairing. It was believedthat this project is the most advanced technically, but has a high degree of risk, in particular, due to the use of a coaxial scheme, which is practically unused in the West.
The firm "Bell", which had extensive experience in the design of convertible aircraft with rotary propellers, proposed a project for a single vehicle with rotary and propellers and V-shaped tail, developed on the basis of the experimental VTOL XV-15.
A light single-rotor helicopter without a tail rotor, very similar to flying equipment from science fiction films, was proposed by the Hughes firm. A similar project was presented by Boeing-Vertol, although its helicopter looked more "down to earth".
All projects provided for the placement of weapons on an internal sling. At the same time, it was not planned to create new weapon systems for the LHX helicopter. The helicopter should be armed with a cannon and the existing air-to-air ATGM, NUR and Stinger missiles.
The Pentagon is "backing up"
Unexpectedly for all participants in the competition for the creation of a promising helicopter, in 1985 the allocations for this program were reduced, and in 1986 the question of its cancellation arose altogether. Perhaps our perestroika was “to blame” for this, perhaps, the competition around various programs for the development of weapons systems for the US Army. There were no funds for the construction and comparative tests of experimental helicopters, but computer simulations were carried out, and individual systems passed comparative tests in laboratories and in flight on helicopters - flying laboratories. All design work was frozen for 5 years. But after the successful military operation of the US Army in Iraq, in 1991 it was announced that the competition was continuing, and Boeing and Sikorsky were announced the winners.
The LHX helicopter, still unnamed until now, has acquired the official name - RAH-66 Comanche. The designation RAH - reconnaisence and attack helicopter - was assigned to a US Army helicopter for the first time. It translates as reconnaissance and attacking. The second name was given to him "for beauty" after the name of the tribe of the Indians - Comanche.
Bet on composite materials
The Comanche received a five-bladed main rotor, and the tail rotor was removed in the ring. The helicopter is equipped with an electronic flight control system, forward-looking infrared sensors and telescopic night vision cameras. Due to the widespread use of composite materials, the helicopter had excellent flight characteristics, high power density and low radar signature. Unlike the traditional location of the crew of combat helicopters (the pilot is in the back, and the gunner with the targeting system is in front), the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter has both places completely equal. The electronic guidance system allowed the shooter to be placed in the back seat, and the pilot to take a more convenient front seat for piloting. Each seat was equipped with a dashboard,the flight control handle and the conventional common pitch control lever.
In the new US combat helicopter, the option of the death of one of the crew members was also provided. Then the control of the total pitch of the blade had to be carried out using the control knob. The cockpit was equipped with color and black-and-white liquid crystal displays measuring 150 × 200 mm each, through which the crew receives complete information about the hostilities and a picture of the terrain, conducts cartographic work and evaluates the tactical situation. Information about the operation of the weapon system and the fuel system was displayed on a multifunctional display screen with a size of 100 × 100 mm.
The two-seater cabin had a high degree of sealing, which reliably protected the crew from the effects of chemical and bacteriological weapons and was equipped with a fly-by-wire flight control system. The cockpit floor had panels that absorb impact energy in an accident. The outer cladding is 40% made of removable panels made using stealth technology; doors, fairings and other secondary structures are made mainly of Kevlar honeycomb materials.
Power point
For the first time, a promising US Army helicopter received two motors at once. The RAH-66 Comanche power plant consisted of two modular gas turbine engines with a free turbine. The engines received an annular air intake with a dust protection device and are connected to the FADEC digital control system, which improves engine throttle response and provides engine diagnostics, reducing the pilot's load. The engines are located on the sides of the fuselage in separate fairings with side air intakes. Between them is the BTS 124 APU, used to launch them and ensuring the operation of auxiliary systems during the entire flight. The fuel is contained in a central fuel tank with a capacity of 1142 liters, it is possible to suspend two fuel tanks with a capacity of 1000 liters or four tanks with a total capacity of 3406 liters for ferry flights.
Control system and weapons
The American designers "hid" the electronic equipment in three isolated compartments with a slight excess pressure, which prevented. The main complex unit of the combat mission MEP includes two central on-board computers with redundant capabilities, which link all avionics, weapon systems, sensors and sensitive elements into a single whole. Armament for all applications included a 20mm triple-barreled cannon mounted on a turret at the bottom of the forward fuselage. The gun could retract into the fairing by turning 180 °; the time of bringing the gun from the fairing to the firing position is 2 seconds, the rate of fire against ground targets is 750 rounds per minute, against air targets -1500 rounds, normal ammunition - 320 rounds, maximum - 500 rounds.
In two bays of weapons, located in the middle part on both sides of the fuselage, on the inner side of the opening flaps on six hardpoints (three on each flap) could be placed Hellfire ATGM with a laser guidance system and two Stinger air-to-air missiles. On a promising helicopter for 15 minutes, it was planned to install small wings for placement on the external sling of additional weapons (EFAMS system). With the EFAMS system installed, the helicopter could carry eight Hellfire ATGMs or thirty-two 70 mm Gidra NARs in eight blocks on the external sling, or sixteen UR Stinger.
Unfulfilled plans
The first flight of the RAH-66 Comanche experimental helicopter took place on January 4, 1996, flight tests of the second prototype helicopter were planned to begin in 1998, flight tests were planned for 2001 to assess the tactical capabilities of helicopters intended for military tests. In total, it was supposed to build six helicopters for such tests. The start of mass production was planned for 2006, it was assumed that 1292 helicopters would be delivered to the US Army. But on February 23, 2004, the US Army decided to close the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program. More than $ 8 billion had already been invested in the program at that time, in addition, the Boeing-Sikorsky coalition received $ 450-680 million in reward for the US Army's withdrawal from the program. What made America abandon a helicopter that was almost ready to enter the army and stuffed with the latest achievements of science and technology?
Slow and weak
The original goal - a speed of 500 km / h - was never completed. American test pilots unanimously declared that it was unrealistic to fly a helicopter at such a speed, and even in conditions of combat at low altitude. As a result, even in the Western press it was reported that the RAH-66 helicopter as a result could not surpass the Russian Ka-50 helicopter - the famous "Black Shark" in terms of maneuverability, the climb rate of the latter is higher than 10 m / s, and the Comancha is 6 m / s. … The Russian Ka-50 helicopter, like the Mi-28, thanks to its good armor protection, is, in the opinion of military experts, a “flying tank”. The Comanche's armor is present only in the form of light kevlar shields that cover the crew members from the sides.
As a fighter helicopter, the Comanche can carry only two air-to-air Stinger missiles (with the EFAMS-24 system installed), while the Ka-50's armament includes 16 Vikhr ATGMs, which can also be used for air targets.
A successful turn of the 2A42 tank gun installed on Russian helicopters is capable of smashing an American rival to shreds, and the armor of Russian helicopters is capable of withstanding the 30-mm shells of the RAH-66 helicopter cannon. It can be concluded that in a hypothetical air battle of the Ka-50 and RAH-66 helicopters, the advantage will be on the side of the "Black Shark". As a result, the promising RAH-66 helicopter finished its "combat path" that never began in the US Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Author: Oleg Goryunov