VH-71 Kestrel
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The VH-71 Kestrel is a variant of the AgustaWestland EH101 which is being developed to replace the United States Marine Corps' Marine One Presidential transport fleet. The aircraft is being produced by the Lockheed Martin-led "US101 Team" which comprises Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego, AgustaWestland and Bell Helicopter Textron. The VH-71 was previously known as VXX.
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[edit] Development
[edit] EH101
The EH101 was developed by EH Industries, a joint venture of the British Westland Aircraft and Italian Agusta companies. The aircraft first flew on October 9 1987 and entered service with the Royal Navy in 2000.
[edit] US101
On 23 July 2002 Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland signed a ten year agreement to "jointly market, produce and support a medium-lift helicopter in the United States."[1] This helicopter was the US101, a derivative of the EH101. The companies envisaged marketing the aircraft in three roles; US Air Force combat search and rescue, US Coast Guard search and rescue, and US Marine Corps executive transport.
On May 15, 2003 AgustaWestland signed an agreement with Bell Helicopter to undertake final assembly of the US101 in the United States.[2] AgustaWestland will produce the main rotor blades and main fuselage sections at its Yeovil, England facility. The company will produce other components, including the gearbox, at its Cascina Costa, Italy facility. This represents a workshare of 36%. The remaining 64% workshare is split between Lockheed Martin (31%) and Bell Helicopter (27%) and others (6%).[3]
[edit] VXX competition
The Department of Defense issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on December 18 2003 for the supply of 23 helicopters to replace the 11 VH-3Ds and 8 VH-60Ns of USMC HMX-1 squadron. This requirement was given the designation VXX (V being the prefix for VIP aircraft and XX representing the then unspecified numerical part of the designation).
Both AgustaWestland and Sikorsky responded to the RFP. Sikorsky proposed the VH-92, a variant of the H-92 Superhawk, in partnership with FlightSafety International, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, Vought Aircraft Industries and GE-Aviation.
On January 28 2005 the Department of Defense announced that it had selected the US101 for the VXX programme. The US101 team was awarded a $1.7 billion contract for the VXX system development and demonstration (SDD) phase.[4]
[edit] Other uses
The US101 is also competing for two USAF contracts, the 141-aircraft Combat Search and Rescue Replacement (CSAR-X) project (won by the Boeing HH-47 on 10 Nov 2006), and the 70-aircraft Common Vertical Lift Support Program (CVLSP).[5]
[edit] Specifications (EH-101)
This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Capacity:
- 30 seated troops or
- 45 standing troops or
- 16 stretchers with medics
- Length: 74 ft 10 in (22.81 m)
- Rotor diameter: 61 ft 0 in (18.59 m)
- Height: 21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
- Disc area: 2992 ft² (271 m²)
- Empty weight: 23,150 lb (10,500 kg)
- Useful load: 5,443 kg (12,000 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 34,320 lb (15,600 kg)
- Powerplant: 3× Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322-01 turboshafts, 2,312 shp (1,725 kW) each
Performance
- Never exceed speed: 167 knots (192 mph, 309 km/h)
- Range: 750 nm (863 mi, 1389 km)
- Service ceiling: 15,000ft (4575 m)
- Rate of climb: 2000 ft/min (10.2 m/s)
- Disc loading: 53.8 kg/m² (11.01 lb/ft²)
- Power/mass: 0.174 shp/lb (284.9 W/kg)
[edit] References
- ^ "Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland Announce Long-term Agreement for US101 Helicopter" Lockheed Martin Corp. July 23, 2002 (Press release)
- ^ "AgustaWestland Selects Bell Helicopter as Airframe Manufacturer for US101 Production"
- ^ "US101 Blows Away Sikorsky in $6.1 Billion VXX Competition" Air Forces Monthly
- ^ "Lockheed Martin to Build New Presidential Helicopter" U.S. Department of Defense January 28, 2005
- ^ "CSAR-X" www.teamus101.com
[edit] External links
[edit] Related content
Related development
Comparable aircraft
Designation sequence
Related lists
- List of helicopters
- List of military transport aircraft
See also
- Related name - XV-6 Kestrel
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