Blackhawk version for Bin Laden Raid

[whiskey]

8 hours ago, exdraken said:

And it is not a Black program, curently,  but a design in competition for a new white/ drab contract

 

Ya don't say?

 

 

[Red Dot]

As mentioned earlier, this is the RAH-66 Comanche in museum storage at Fort Rucker in 2010. I doubt very much if it has moved, much less flying.

 

Andy

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Red Dot

[whiskey]

There's actually 2 Comanches and both are located there. One is essentially mothballed as shown above and the other is in better condition. They pull it out on occasion for display.

 

 

https://www.armyaviationmuseum.org/2017/02/24/comanche-on-display-on-museum-floor-for-limited-time/

[magman2]

Yes  and yes to both post if  was 

black program it would not be on display 

😜

 

[Blue Monday]

The Bin Laden Blackhawk might be revealed in the future but who knows. There are rumours of one or two different Low-Radar Cross Section rotorcraft being tested in the late 1980's-early 1990's at the Nevada Test Range (Groom Lake or possibly elsewhere). A report in a 1995 Aviation Week and Space magazine article is particularly interesting. I have seen some evidence to support the existence of one of these rumoured types but no photos or drawings and nothing definitive to confirm it's existence. Who knows what might be released in the future.

 

Regarding radar reflectivity of rotors, rotor blades of composite construction help greatly in this respect as well as the number of blades. I can't recall off-hand but I think 5 blades might be the optimum number.

 

Take any helicopter, add composite blades, radar absorbent material on the exterior and a little shaping to the frontal area and it's RCS will be lowered. Start from scratch and apparently miraculous results can be achieved.

 

BM.     

[whiskey]

On 5/4/2020 at 8:53 AM, Blue Monday said:

Take any helicopter, add composite blades, radar absorbent material on the exterior and a little shaping to the frontal area and it's RCS will be lowered. Start from scratch and apparently miraculous results can be achieved.

 

BM.     

I don't believe that statement is entirely accurate.

 

 

A good read to elaborate more of what else you discussed is here:

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/25890/origins-of-stealth-black-hawks-date-back-over-33-years-before-the-bin-laden-raid

[Blue Monday]

I'm not sure I get the point you are making. The EH-60 referenced earlier in this thread was a standard UH-60 converted to a semi-stealthy helicopter with various bolt-on additions. That, according to the people who worked on it, had a reduced RCS. The RAH-66 is probably the stealthiest of all helicopters that are currently known of in the white world. The Bin Laden Blackhawk presumably was even more impressive from the point of view of reduced RCS.

 

The "Quiet Helicopter" modifications employed on various helicopters like the Hughes OH-6A "Quiet One"/Hughes 500P and presumably the Bin Laden Blackhawk are not exactly the "flick-of-a-switch Whisper-Mode" tech from the movies. Flying at reduced rotor RPM, like the Hughes "Quiet One" in quiet mode, apparently was on the edge of what was controllable. No turns, no turbulence, nothing but straight-and-level flight. The route in and out would have been mapped for sections to be flown in Quiet Mode and the rest would be at full-RPM.

 

I don't think we have seen the full story of the development of rotary-wing stealthy/LRCS helicopters in the USA. Hopefully some helicopters will be de-classified in the future and we'll get to look behind the veil of secrecy.

 

BM.       

Edited May 12, 2020 by Blue Monday

[Aeronut]

On 4/5/2020 at 4:53 AM, Slater said:

Apparently the "Achilles Heel" of a stealthy helicopter (indeed, any helicopter) is the rotating rotor blades which serve as an ideal radar reflector. Not sure if anyone has solved that problem to any satisfactory degree. 

Anyone remember the issue of the BBC's  'Tomorrows World' (30 or so years ago) that described the RAE's experiments with turning a helicopter rotor into a radar scanner by fitting out a rotor blade with wave guides along the length of the blade. I'd love to read the report on that.