does anyone know when these things r acctually going into service , ive been hearing about them for years or am i way behind the times and they already r?

dont get told bout much over here in uk

This is an article on it:

Quote:

"RAH-66 COMANCHE RECONNAISSANCE/ATTACK HELICOPTER, USA
The Comanche RAH-66 is the US Army's new Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter being developed by Boeing Sikorsky. The first flight of the Comanche took place on 4th January 1996. The program entered Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) in June 2000, which requires the construction of nine aircraft in addition to the two prototypes by 2006. Critical design review of the overall weapon system was completed in June 2003 to be followed by assembly of the development helicopters. Low rate initial production of 78 helicopters in three batches will begin in 2007. The armed reconnaissance Block I version is scheduled for initial operating capability in 2009 and heavy attack Block II version in 2011. The US Army requirement is for 650 Comanche helicopters.

Production of the Comanche will take place at Sikorsky's new site in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Boeing is responsible for manufacturing and assembling the composite tail section and rotor blades. Sikorsky manufactures the main fuselage and gearbox and is responsible for integration and final assembly of the airframe.

In an armed reconnaissance mission, Comanche can recognise and identify targets and digitally transmit the information to the battlefield commander in near real-time, select the optimum force deployment and co-ordinate the attack.

DESIGN

The airframe is crashworthy and ballistically tolerant to 23mm gunfire. The radar cross section has been minimised, primarily by the precisely shaped fuselage and internal weapons configuration. The helicopter has a composite five-bladed bearingless main rotor and an enclosed composite fantail tailrotor for increased anti-torque capability. The rear rotor is able to withstand impact by 12.7mm rounds and provides a 180° turn in 4.7 seconds in hover mode and an 80 knot snap-turn-to-target in 4.5 seconds.

COCKPIT

The Comanche has two identical cockpits for the pilot and the co-pilot, which are sealed and have a positive pressure air system for protection against chemical and biological warfare. The fly-by-wire flight control system is triple redundant. The cockpit is fitted with a pilot's night vision system from Lockheed Martin and the pilots have a wide field of view (35° x 52°) Kaiser Electronics Helmet Integrated Display Sighting System (HIDSS). HIDSS employs active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) technology. The targets are designated and the weapons fired from collective and sidestick control push buttons. Each integrated cockpit has Harris Corp. flat screen liquid crystal displays, a colour display for a digital moving map system, tactical situation and night operation display.

Northrop Grumman is providing the Comanche's integrated Communications, Navigation and Identification (CNI) suite. The CNI suite will feature secure multi-wave, multiband multimode wireless communications, Link 16, satellite communications and Enhanced Position Locating Reporting System (EPLRS) via the tactical internet.

WEAPONS

The Comanche carries its weapons internally and has a weapons bay on each side of the fuselage. The missiles are mounted on the weapon bay doors which open sideways. The internal weapon bay can be fitted with Stinger, Starstreak or Mistral air-to-air missiles; TOW II, Hot II or Longbow Hellfire air-to-ground missiles; Sura D 81mm, Snora 81mm, Hydra 70 rockets; or the Army Counter Air Weapon System. The number of missiles on each door mounting varies, for example each door will hold three Hellfire or six Stinger missiles. The helicopter can be reconfigured with optional stub wings fitted with multiple weapon pylons which carry an additional four Hellfire or eight Stinger missiles.

The Comanche is equipped with a turreted gun system from General Dynamics Armament Systems. The stowable externally-powered three-barrel 20mm Gatling gun is capable of firing 750 or 1,500 rounds per minute. The gun is mounted on a Giat composite turret (weighing 127kg) under the nose of the helicopter. The 500 round ammunition supply system can be reloaded in less than 8 minutes by two crew members.

COUNTERMEASURES

The helicopter countermeasures suite includes an AN/AVR-2A(V) Advanced Laser Warning Receiver from Goodrich Electro-Optical Systems (formerly Raytheon) of Danbury, Connecticut and the ITT AN/ALQ-211 SIRCM (Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures) suite, as well as infrared jammers.

FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION

The Comanche is equipped with a suite of passive sensors and a computer-aided Northrop Grumman mission planning system, which carries out sensor data fusion, high-speed analysis and correlation of the sensor data. Northrop Grumman TASS (Target Acquisition System Software) functions include automatic target tracking and target threat management. The analysed data is presented to the crew in the cockpit displays or transmitted to other elements of the force, providing direct relay of near real time intelligence.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has developed the EOSS (Electro-Optics Sensor System) which comprises: EOTADS target acquisition and designation system, including solid-state TV sensor, two-colour laser rangefinder/designator and second-generation focal plane array long-wave FLIR (forward-looking infrared); and NVPS Night Vision Pilotage System with a second FLIR. The first complete EOSS system was delivered in June 2003.

The Comanche will be fitted with a fire control radar (based on the Longbow millimetre wave radar on the AH-64D Apache helicopter) being developed by Northrop Grumman Land Combat Systems and Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control.

NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

The helicopter has a global positioning system, a radar altimeter and an attitude heading reference system (AHRS) from Northrop Grumman (formerly Litton).

It is equipped with an identification friend or foe (IFF) interrogator and a dual jam resistant VHF-FM / UHF-AM Have Quick tactical communications system.

ENGINES

The Comanche is equipped with two T-800-LHT-801 turboshaft engines from LHTec with a maximum rated power of 1,563 shaft horsepower each. The internal fuel capacity of the helicopter is 1,142 litres. "




[Edited on 5-2-2004 by dreamrebel]

nice 1 m8 ill have a quick read.

DreamRebel, is that avatar the one from Half-life? Opposing Force I think? Sorry off topic, anyways...

Yeah, the Commanche has been in service for a while now, a good piece of metal if ya' ask me. I like the thing to death, plus, it can partially take some of the task off of the getting-old Apache..

-wD

It may be. I found it on google!!

its a mad bit of kit, wouldnt like it after me

that is an opposing force avatar by the way

The Comanche is still undergoing trials at Fort Rucker. Looking at it realistically, it's not working out too great and probably won't. They are just adding too much and the usefulness of many systems it will have is so limited.

First the weapon load is very small. It carries only a quarter to a half of what a single AH-64A can carry. The only way to carry more weapons is to add external weapon racks. Which leads to the second point. The addition of external weapon racks will make it's stealth capability completely useless.

so u reckon the whole project is goin to be a complete flop then?
ive heard things bout it spose to be replacin the apache but i cant see it myself. unless the apache uses its weapons to blast in and out and u dont need that with stealth so could u get away with less weapons ?

The comanche has been known about for a while, they even have games about it out, Comanche 3, etc.
Nonetheless it's a very slick helicopter, and I think that if it works as well as it should, it will be a key part of future warfare

Sweatmonica,
the comanche isn't replacing the AH-64, it's replacing the OH-58, so comparing the 2 is sorta unrealistic, since they are used for slighty differen't things. And once we are using it, it will probably work in conjunction with the AH-64. It isn't made to be a direct attacking bird anyhow. It's main job will probably be recon and enemy ID, at which point another aircraft will do the fighting. Read Valhall's post it explains it better

Umm didnt i start a thread on this already?? the RAH-66 Comanche.

Go back about a page or so and skim the threads you will find it.

I saw a program on discovery about this copter and one militairy expert said this is the last real Attack / recon helicopter of this kind. He said that if it will be replaced in the distance future this kind is out dated cause then they will have anti-gravity propulsion on that time he said.
On that time I started to wonder cause he said it so firmly that it all most sounded that he knew it would be there on that time he said 2050 or something. so I thought if he said it like that he allready know what we had so he could say it as firmly as he did.

Can you say that in the same breath as saying Fusion would be out by year 2000?

This might sound strange but the front to me looks kinda like and apaches i might of had too much to drink tonight