08-10-2008, 23:56
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חבר מתאריך: 08.08.04
הודעות: 1,575
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עוד פרטים ותמונה של ה-MELB שעליו הוא יתבסס
Boeing chose the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington, D.C., to unveil a new-production version of the AH-6 light armed reconnaissance helicopter. It's initially aimed at the export market. The company is pursuing several international customers and would like to announce an initial 18-24 aircraft order in early 2009.
The new AH-6 is best described as an export-legal version of the Army special forces' AH-6J/M Little Bird, combining the airframe of the MD Helicopters 500 with the more muscular power train of the MD 600, a six-blade main rotor and a four-blade tail rotor. Avionics are described as "dumb displays with smart processors" and the aircraft comes as standard with an ITAR-cleared Wescam MX-15D infra-red and laser designator turret.
Although Boeing sold the commercial rights to the design to MD Helicopters in 1998, the company has retained the intellectual property and rights to sell military versions. Boeing believes that MD has cleared some of its problems and will now be a reliable airframe supplier.
Boeing says that it is not trying to unseat Bell's troubled ARH-70 program, although the company did offer an MD 500-based design for the ARH contest. Some expensive ARH requirements - including a common Army cockpit and added fuel capacity - have been skipped in the new design.
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"[Nuclear] war is unthinkable but not impossible, and therefore we must think about it" - Bernard Brodie
נערך לאחרונה ע"י nsdq160 בתאריך 09-10-2008 בשעה 00:01.
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