Development and Implementation of the H-1 Turned Exhaust System

The H-1 Turned Exhaust effort is an innovative, low-risk approach to reduce platform tailboom heating, reduce IR signature, and to make improvements in many other areas related to tailboom heating. This system was flight tested on AH-1Z #1 and UH-1Y #1. A key innovation of the design was the flexible metal bellows that were developed for the engine-to-suppressor seal. The H-1 Turned Exhaust has been incorporated into the production system for the H-1 Upgrade Program (AH-1Z and UH- 1Y) and the USMC has placed an order for 60 ship sets of Turned Exhaust for the AH-1W Platform. This paper will describe the design approach, the flight-testing that was performed on the AH-1Z and UH-1Y Turned Exhaust, and the key benefits that the Turned Exhaust brings to the platform.