Black Hawk : the story of a world class helicopter / Ray D. Leoni.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leoni, Ray D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black Hawk (Military transport helicopter)--History.

Black Hawk (Military transport helicopter).

History.

Physical Description:

xv, 333 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Reston, Va. : American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, [2007]

Summary:

This story tells, in clear detail, how Sikorsky Aircraft developed, tested, modified, and produced one of the most successful helicopters in the world. Written by the man considered to be the father of the Black Hawk, Ray Leoni explains how Sikorsky used innovative designs with the right advanced technologies to meet the Army's stringent specifications for aircraft performance, survivability and reliability. With its creative Black Hawk design, Sikorsky won an uphill, highly-contested battle for one of the world's largest helicopter programs which reestablished the company as a leader in the world community of helicopter producers.Black Hawk variants have been put in service by every branch of the US Military and by over 24 countries around the world accumulating over 5 million flight hours. Through its combat service in the campaigns of Granada, Panama, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Black Hawk has demonstrated unprecedented mission versatility and survivability and proven itself to be an outstanding war-fighting machine that will serve for a half century or longer.In the best tradition and vision of Igor Sikorsky, Black Hawks are performing world-wide rescue and humanitarian missions saving countless lives and providing relief from natural and manmade disasters to thousands of people across the globe.The Army program began in 1972 with the issuance of Requests for Proposals for the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System to the U.S. helicopter industry. Both Boeing Vertol and Sikorsky were awarded contracts to design and build prototype Black Hawks for Army side-by-side evaluation. Those awards set off an intense 4-year competition between the two companies that culminated in the final production selection in 1976. That competition focused on developing the best possible helicopter to offer for production selection by the Army following a 7-month fly off evaluation. During this critical evaluation, a night-time crash occurred of one of Sikorsky's three prototypes with 14 Army personnel aboard.This book shows the cause and results of that crash and describes how its consequences actually strengthened Sikorsky's competitive position.It also describes in considerable technical detail the problems encountered by Sikorsky during prototype development in vibration, speed performance, maneuverability and handling qualities and how they were solved in time for the production award. Many of the key people responsible for the success of the Black Hawk program are identified throughout this book. Readers will benefit from the unique insights into the challenges of helicopter development as well as successful management strategies presented in this book.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Black Hawk Overview 1

Black Hawk's Origin 7

UTTAS Program Launched 11

Winning Against Long Odds 13

Early Setbacks 14

Final Selection 16

Chapter 2 A Matter of Survival 19

Long Road Ahead 25

Strategies to Win UTTAS 31

New Management and New Focus 32

Right Technologies and the Right Design 33

Right Team 36

Chapter 3 Designing a Winner 39

UTTAS Design Requirements 42

Army Evaluation of Sikorsky's UTTAS Proposal 59

Chapter 4 The Right Rotors 65

Titanium/Composite Main Rotor Blade 66

Rotor Blade Aerodynamic Design 66

Titanium Spar Rationale and Challenge 73

Titanium Spar Manufacturing Technology 74

Elastomeric Main Rotor Head 79

Bearingless Crossbeam Tail Rotor 84

Canted Tail Rotor 88

Chapter 5 Designed to Survive 91

Crashworthiness Design 91

Ballistic Design 103

Crew Protection 111

Emerging Threat to Helicopters 114

Survivability Assessment 117

Chapter 6 Drawing Board to First Flight 119

Designing (CS)[superscript 2] 122

Test Failures Threatened First Flight 124

The Derivative That Never Was 128

Chapter 7 "To Make It Fly Is Everything" 131

Major Problem - Vibration 134

Effect of Rotor Location 139

Fixed System Absorbers and Cockpit Stiffening 144

"Pin the Tail on" and Getting It Right 148

Achieving the "UTTAS Maneuver" 154

Recovering the Speed Shortfall 158

Ready for Army Evaluation 163

Chapter 8 Army Fly-off 165

Army Takes Delivery 166

Indication of Competitive Advantage 169

Potential Tragedy Becomes a Victory 171

Performance and Climatic Testing 177

Icing Flight Testing 178

Ready for the Final Selection 181

Chapter 9 Final Selection and Production 183

Weights and Performance 185

SSAC Visit 187

Final Selection and Contract Award 188

Initial Production Period 192

Vibration Reduction Continues 193

Stability Augmentation System Evolution 194

Ready for Production 195

Full Production and Multiyear Procurement 197

Chapter 10 Black Hawk Lineage 201

U.S. Navy SH-60B Seahawk 203

U.S. Army EH-60B SOTAS 209

U.S. Army EH-60A/C Quick Fix 209

U.S. Navy SH-60F CV Helo 211

U.S. Navy HH-60H Rescue Hawk 212

U.S. Coast Guard HH-60J Jayhawk 212

U.S. Marine Corps VH-60N 214

U.S. Air Force MH-60G/HH-60G Pave Hawk 215

U.S. Army MH-60K Black Hawk 216

U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk 217

U.S. Army UH-60Q DUSTOFF 224

S-70A Firehawk 225

U.S. Navy MH-60S Knighthawk 231

U.S. Navy MH-60R Strikehawk 232

U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk 233

Beyond the UH-60M Black Hawk 244

Chapter 11 International Hawk Family 247

Australian Hawks 250

Austrian Black Hawks 256

Bahrain Black Hawks 257

Brazilian Black Hawks 259

Brunei Black Hawks 262

Chilean Black Hawks 266

Colombian Black Hawks 270

Egyptian Black Hawks 273

Greek Seahawks 274

Israeli Black Hawks 277

Japanese Hawks 279

Jordanian Black Hawks 284

Mexican Black Hawks 285

People's Republic of China Black Hawks 286

Republic of China Hawks 292

Republic of Korea Black Hawks 298

Saudi Arabia Black Hawks 301

Spanish Seahawks 303

Thailand Hawks 304

Turkish Hawks 306

VIP Black Hawks 313

Supporting Materials 333.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-318) and index.

ISBN:

9781563479182

1563479184

OCLC:

169875712