Reporters at the Air Warfare Symposium today got a tour of a full-size mock up of AgustaWestland and Lockheed Martin’s US101 entry in the search for a CSAR-X aircraft. Company officials argue that the US101 is the logical choice for Air Force Special Operations Command HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter replacement program. They say the US101 already has proven itself in the combat search and rescue mission. Stephen Ramsey, executive VP of Helicopter Systems for Lockheed Martin, said Thursday morning that the US101 already has accumulated more than 10,000 desert landings without incident with the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force in Southwest Asia. He maintains the aircraft has great survivability as well, since it is the only CSAR-X entrant with three engines and employs the “curtain effect”—a unique rotor design that prevents brownout and keeps dust from enveloping the aircraft during a desert landing.
The KC-Z4, a blended wing body tanker concept being developed by startup JetZero, could fuel larger groups of aircraft at longer range to hold more targets at risk, company officials say.