The US Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s annual report says the CH-53K engine’s performance degrades bellow the accepted minimum after 21 minutes of dust exposure. This is causing great concern in the IAF as it eyes buying the first batch of 20 helicopters.
By Arie EgoziAUSA: The Army is groping for solutions to the worst threat helicopter pilots face in Afghanistan, Iraq and other sandy places – brownout and other forms of Degraded Visual Environment (DVE), which from 2002 to 2015 caused nearly 400 aircraft losses in combat operations at a cost of 152 lives and roughly $1 billion. “Of…
By Richard WhittleThe Army will test a new system designed to lessen the worst danger military helicopter crews and their passengers have faced during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — blinding sand, dust or snow that can cause pilots to get disoriented and crash. Sierra Nevada Corp. thinks its Helicopter Autonomous Landing System (HALS), which the…
By Richard Whittle