Rick Spicer, Boeing’s deputy capture team lead for the company’s CSAR efforts, told reporters Sept. 27 at AFA’s Air and Space Conference in Washington that it would probably be the last time he would get to make a pitch for the HH-47 before the expected November CSAR-X aircraft award. Spicer touted the US Special Operations Command’s MH-47 combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, since the HH-47 is 95 percent common with the MH-47Gs. He also discussed the new digital open architecture cockpit, digital flight controls, and advanced visibility and countermeasure capabilities.
Sikorsky is pitching a modified "U-Hawk" version of older UH-60 Black Hawk series helicopters as autonomous resupply aircraft with additional capabilities as missile or drone swarm launchers.
