THE UTILITY OF SPEED, AGILITY, AND MANEUVERABILITY FOR AN LHX TYPE MISSION

One of the most exciting and innovative rotary wing programs anticipated in the next decade is the Army′s LHX Family of Light Helicopters program. Among the most critical issues yet to be adequately addressed is the utility of speed and agility in the context of the Army′s mission in the year 2000. This paper brings together the results of efforts in this area, and generalizes them in ways meaningful to industry and government developers, and to the military requirements writers. The results are presented parametrically in terms such as load factor, speed, acceleration, and deceleration, and measures of effectiveness are used which are applicable to the military environment e.g. sorties delivered, time on station, response time, and changes in survivability. The results take into account three dimensional considerations, including the effects of both macro and micro terrain.