In late 1996, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. was awarded a contract from the United States Marine Corps for the H-1 Upgrade Program. The program award was preceded by studies of all aircraft and approaches available to provide helicopter war fighting capability for the Marine Air Ground Task Force through the first quarter of the 21st century and beyond. Upgrades were defined for both the UH-1N utility helicopter and the AH-1W attack helicopter to integrate the following enhancements: (1) Improved mission capability, (2) Increased performance and maneuverability, (3) Additional survivability features, (4) Reduced pilot workload, and (5) Potential for growth. These enhancements give the Marine Corps the equivalent of new, state-of-the-art, zero-time aircraft, with 10,000-hour service lives. Total ownership cost affordability was, of course, a major requirement. Commonality, improvements in reliability and maintainability, the use of COTS/NDI equipment, and the reuse of existing equipment were encouraged to enhance squadron operability and supportability and help reduce recurring and O&S costs. Cost As An Independent Variable (CAIV) studies were also required to continuously evaluate potential cost reduction elements in trade against program and technical requirements. Bell and NAVAIR formed Integrated Product Teams (IPT) with representatives from all functional disciplines, to improve communication and to ensure the configuration designs were not only adequate technically but were also cost- effective to manufacture and to operate and support in the fleet. This IPT process has been instrumental in improving the contractor/customer approval process during design reviews. This paper summarizes the H-1 Upgrade Program. The Marine Corps modernization plan is described and the role of the H-1 is defined. The resulting configurations are described, as is the process of optimizing configuration details within program constraints.
H-1 Update Program: Affordable War Fighting Capability for the U.S. Marines
2000
18 pages
Report
No indication
English
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