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
0 Comments