UTILITY AND ATTACK HELICOPTER CONFIGURATIONS FOR THE USMC WITH COMMONALITY IN ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS

The USMC H-1 Upgrade Program has the objective of enhancing the mission capabilities of the utility (UH-1N) and attack (AH-1W) helicopters by incorporating state-of-the-art technologies throughout both platforms. When the USMC utility and attack helicopters started service, there was a significant amount of commonality in the dynamic components. However, the attack helicopter has undergone a series of upgrades, primarily in the rotor, engine, and drive systems, while the utility remained unchanged. With increasing emphasis on cost of ownership, the H-1 Upgrade Program was initiated to upgrade the rotor and drive systems for the attack helicopter and install these same systems on the utility helicopter. The commonality will also apply to the power plant, electrical components, controls, hydraulics, and much of the airframe structural components, such as the tailboom. In addition, a common integrated avionics system is being developed for both helicopters. Items such as mission computers, flight control computers, sensors, cockpit displays, and wiring elements will be incorporated on both helicopters. Common electronic warfare systems are also included. The result of this design effort will be state-of-the-art utility (UH-1Y) and attack (AH-1Z) helicopters that will provide significant cost reductions for the USMC by minimizing spares, support equipment, training, manuals, and packup volume for deployments.