Zitat:Wallenstein postete
Wenn der Commanche solch einmalige Eigenschaften hat,warum wird sein Projekt gecancelt? Ich meine,es gibt ja keine konkreten Gründe,oder?

An der Finanzierung kann es doch nicht liegen,schließlich ist man dort gut bestückt,und außerdem sollt er ab 2006 in Serie gehen.
Ergo bleibt die Vermutung das es (massive) technische Probleme gibt oder schon immer gab.

Zitat:Wenn es denn endgültig sein sollte (was ich nicht glaube),würden die Entwicklungen sicherlich in einen neuen Heli einfließen,aber dies würde weitere Jahre in Anspruch nehmen.

Ist mir sehr suspekt,die haben wirklich ZU VIEL Geld zum experimentieren.:motz:

Zitat:The Apaches "made a huge difference in Operation Anaconda," General McChrystal said. "They took a lot of fire. But they kept flying and, in fact, they were very effective. So the aircraft is a tough "
(...)
If all took hits and only one went down," Mr. Work said, "that shows how well they sustain fire."

Zitat:By Joshua Kucera JDW Staff Reporter
and
Andrew Koch Washington Bureau Chief
Washington, DC

The US Army has abandoned the multi-billion dollar RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance helicopter programme, saying that the system was too vulnerable to anti-aircraft threats and did not fit with future army plans. Funding earmarked for it will be better spent on buying existing helicopter models, upgrading old aircraft and starting an entirely new armed reconnaissance helicopter programme, senior army officials said at a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Dropping the Comanche will save $14.6 billion over Fiscal Years 2004-2011, said acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker and Lt Gen Richard Cody, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.

That money would have bought 121 Comanches and will now be used for 796 new helicopters and upgrading 1,400 more. "This is an army initiative," Schoomaker said. "It's not just about terminating Comanche," but part of a larger restructure.




-The officials said the army will now start to plan an entirely new reconnaissance aircraft as a replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa.

-The army also plans to buy a new version of the AH-64 Apache, known as Block III. Army officials Monday said this version will have all the advantages of the Comanche except stealthiness.

-accelerate the fielding of Aircraft Survivability Equipment technology to forces in Iraq and Afghanistan,

-buy 303 new light utility helicopters to replace 422 UH-1 Hueys, which will be phased out,

-buy 80 additional UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopters above what had already been planned,

-buy 25 new fixed-wing C-XX inter-theatre cargo planes to replace the C-23 Sherpa,

-buy 20 CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters above what had already been planned,

-fund a joint heavy-lift helicopter programme to replace all the army's cargo and heavy-lift helicopters by 2020,

-and fund new plans for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).




The army has spent $6.9 billion to date on Comanche, and over the life of the programme would have had to spend a total of $39 billion to buy 650, Cody said. The army will have to pay $450-680 million in termination fees to the Comanche's contractors, primarily Boeing and Sikorsky, said Asst. Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Claude Bolton.

The RAH-66's demise has long been predicted. The US, facing a burgeoning budget deficit, is expected to cut some defense programmes and Comanche's large slice of the pie had been thought to be particularly vulnerable.

Schoomaker ordered an aviation task force six months ago to examine all aspects of army aviation, including the Comanche, as part of an effort dramatically transform the army to a lighter, more modular force. The decision to cut the Comanche programme came out of this group, the officials said Monday.

The Comanche was intended to be a light reconnaissance helicopter with stealth capabilities. But advances in UAVs have suggested that they might do that job better, while simple rocket-propelled grenade and missile attacks on US helicopters in Iraq have shown that the Comanche's stealthiness would not be as useful as it was thought at the 1983 inception of the programme, when it was designed to face Soviet air defense systems.

However, army officials were until recently saying publicly that they were committed to the Comanche.

Gen. Richard Cody, deputy chief of staff for the army, took a Comanche for a test drive in December. In January, he called it "the best aircraft we've ever built ... We now have an aircraft with no limitations except the pilot."

Low-rate initial production was to have started in 2006.