For years, the United States military has pushed its current roster of helicopters to the very brink of their usability, as replacing their Cold War-era fleets is proving a much more significant challenge than previously thought.
The Black Hawk, for instance, has dramatically surpassed its original operating lifetime, and it has recently become embroiled in controversy due to significant security issues.
To make matters worse, the dreadful possibility of a large-scale war against China in the Western Pacific Ocean has forced the US authorities to reevaluate what they have at hand, as the current fleet may prove deficient in the region.
If the worst-case scenario were to unfold, the United States would be forced to conduct aggressive island-hopping operations, for which it would need a fast, robust, and reliable Vertical Lift vehicle capable of unleashing overwhelming firepower while also transporting heavy military equipment.
The hopes of the US military now rest on an ambitious project that seeks to replace the current fleets of helicopters with next-generation rotorcraft equipped with the leading cutting-edge technology to wage war even in the most inhospitable recesses of the Pacific…
source
It is great to see the Sikorsky test facility located near West Palm Beach, Florida (actually closer to Jupiter) after more than 35 years. What a great place to work, great projects, and incredibly talented people.
Seems like we could go back and pick up the age 56 Cheyenne and build it as well. It has long legs, it's easy to fly, and it's a better aircraft than the Apache ever wanted to be. It's also a hell of a lot faster than the Apache.
The day they park these two in the boneyard, they'll pick up the crews in a Huey!
I would have thought the pick would be diff
The Sikorsky Defiant is just the updated version of Lockheed's Cheyenne developed 55 years ago. The slower rotor speeds also help with forward Vmax, which was a problem with the Cheyenne (single rotor plus one push prop) as the blade tips would go supersonic creating retreating blade stall and all sorts of bad things happen from there.
The KA52 isn't working too well in current war situation in Ukraine.
Defiant , which ive followed since the X2 . 21 Century upon us & Blackhawk had served well , time to let it go.
Outstanding aircraft’s!
In my humble opinion, I believe that both units could fill the varied needs of our beloved Republic. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸
china will swallow USA, wait for few years.
I think they should use both new designs.
I like the mysterious voice
The countries of Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Philippines need to get their sh£t together. We’re not sending a million of our boys and girls there to fight island warfare. Fully defend yourselves and we’ll be the extra edge in manpower and technology that will discourage the PRC and DPRK from doing something stupid. Get to work, pronto!
Love my Hawk. 67/15T for life!
5:55 how is it possible to land safely if one of the rotors goes out?
US Army picked Bell's V280 Valor over the Defiant because Valor is faster, lifts a heaver load and has a longer range. Something about the Defiant's shaft to the pusher propeller getting twisted out of shape.
I ❤ DARK TECH. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
We should be spending more money and time on "swarm technology" as opposed to spending huge sums on single-unit assets like China and other countries are doing.
It's too wide, too big a target. Give me the Huey any day. The Pentagon needs to revive and punch it up. It's a fabulous platform!
Speed?
I feel like this thing is gonna go as well as the osprey
I thought we bought the Osprey one.