S-70 UAS U-Hawk

[Shadow Reaper]

Great idea applied to the wrong platform. Expect to see this on the V-280 Valor sometime soon for greatly enhanced speed and range, and an autonomous gunship variant.

https://share.google/TNu1mEFObB7hQMlJW

 

[Shadow Reaper]

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtube.com

 

[Lorddarthvik]

View: https://youtu.be/Zj7tjvTPwWI



For some reason YT popped up this vid for me (probably cos I watch historical war stuff), cool design, but also it's kinda funny that YT thinks I'm the audience for this ad, it feels like they are tryin to sell me on this instead of renting a U-Haul lol


It's a well used platform with a very high degree of support, tons of spare parts already on shelves, millions of hours of experience in flying and maintenance. Compared to the V280 mechanically, this is an "I can fix it with a hammer" kind of deal. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper to convert this probably. It's a known factor overall.

It's radio operated wtih GPS and other electronics for nav which means it is very susceptible to jamming and crashing. I would choose a cheap throw-away platform for this, not the most expensive oversized piece of unreliable quasi-still-experimental gear we have around. There's like what, thousands of UH60s you can potentially convert to this? It's a small light transport, you need that in numbers to make sense.

I don't see this as an assault transport or anything of the sort. It will serve as a behind the lines convenience, most likely transporting icecream 90% of the time and used for combat roles probably never. I see this as a logistical support asset where you don't need 3-4 guys per transport plane to get it there and thus be unavailable to you. If you can chain up 5 of these to one command unit and have that one guy "fly" all of them from A to B to get stuff there, I see the use case for it.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I agree with your reasons to use the older platform, but looking forward I see enormous utility in the enhanced range of the Valor. The extra speed makes it safer, but the range opens up new missions and that’s what the Valor is for. You can imagine for example using this to drop half dozen artillery pieces, a couple dozen stingers, an SM-6 launcher, some robot LMGs and a troop carrier to man them. The ability to grab a hill a thousand miles inland is shocking, and I really think we’re going to see that kind of island hopping. Trudging across every inch of a mostly static line is going to go away, methinks. High speed transport is too effective for anyone to keep fighting the way we did in Vietnam. Placing artillery with a 40 mile range over a town, for example; makes it unnecessary to actually fight for the town. It will just surrender. In many parts of the world a single artillery drop could command surrender of several towns at once. Seems a much more civilized way to do war.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

I agree with your reasons to use the older platform, but looking forward I see enormous utility in the enhanced range of the Valor. The extra speed makes it safer, but the range opens up new missions and that’s what the Valor is for. You can imagine for example using this to drop half dozen artillery pieces, a couple dozen stingers, an SM-6 launcher, some robot LMGs and a troop carrier to man them. The ability to grab a hill a thousand miles inland is shocking, and I really think we’re going to see that kind of island hopping. Trudging across every inch of a mostly static line is going to go away, methinks. High speed transport is too effective for anyone to keep fighting the way we did in Vietnam. Placing artillery with a 40 mile range over a town, for example; makes it unnecessary to actually fight for the town. It will just surrender. In many parts of the world a single artillery drop could command surrender of several towns at once. Seems a much more civilized way to do war.

Putting "robot LMG" and "civilized" into the same sentence is kinda wild lol

I like the idea for the Valor Clanker variant, sounds great on paper, and I see your point, but dunno how effective it would be irl.

I 'm just looking at the current day war next door. If I learned anything, it's that right after the start (where probably the most rotary wings were lost in the shortest time in history) it descended into lobbing stuff at each other from as far away as possible, be it drones shells or bombs, with the occasional ambush and rare instances of reenacting the battle of Stalingrad.

While such an air assault you described would be really useful in breaking a stalemate, with manpads hiding under every bush, and a mobile SAM site behind every hill, I think it would be too risky, just like how it was proven to be. There's daily vids and reports of anything flying being scattered over a field or forest, especially helos. Air is the least safe place to be, no matter how fancy your flying is. And as it was shown a couple days ago, you're not safe from drones in the air either.

I'll be real, to me with zero knowledge or experience in this field, the Valor looks kinda silly and limited in its usefulness.
It's significantly larger on the outside, more things to hit, two huge engines on wings that look ready to break off on their own just from the stress (which they do occasionally), yet it's barely larger on the inside than a UH60, even if it can lift a bit more.
It's size and shape makes it look like it would have a harder time hugging the ground at speed, which has been essential for any chance of survival in the current war. I mean doing 5 meters AGL, not 50+. I see that little difference in speed as a non-factor when it comes to safety, it's still just a prop-plane at it's fastest. The missile might hit a second later than it would a UH60, but your still not in an F16 doing mach 1.5...
The range is impressive though. I see a very good use for it as a fast delivery vehicle after the forces have moved far away from the main invasion point, like when invading a country with a coastline and you come in via sea and take the first airbase on the shore, but a week later you need to send support inland a 1000km away, and fast, with no infrastructure to support a real plane like a c130/c17, but otherwise the route is clear.
I'm not against seeing a new solution to the problem, I just don't see this being it. I feel like it's something that's going to get replaced not long after it comes into service with something even more advanced but possibly also more traditional in it's design. I think they are just gonna drop the whole concept and go fully unmanned for any combat role with dedicated platforms. Except SAR and Medevac, you'll still need a doc onboard, but that's what this will be good for I guess.

Also one more reason I think they went with the UH60s, I don't think they are going away anytime soon. They'll be like the B52s, still here serving with a new coat of paint 50 years later.
Anyways, I'm just rambling. It's not like I have anything better to do (looks at clock, 4am again dammit lol)

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Well certainly Lockheed doesn’t want to give up building Blackhawks. It’s one of their most popular products. The problem with more traditional rotor wings is there are severe limits to how fast they can go, mostly related to the forward sweep of the rotor breaking the sound barrier. They are also not efficient, so the Defiant really did not come close to the Valor specs. It was the best Lockheed could do given the limits of traditional rotor wings.

So far as safer, when flying over forests and such, flying low means you’re only in line of sight for a few seconds, so even shoulder mounted missiles are hard to aim and fire. The Valor is a LOT faster, so crosses the horizon much more quickly and is that much less likely to get a response from the ground. Also, fixed wing can be quieter, so even less warning, and they can also fly higher, which can be useful.

I was in business for years with a retired Brigadier General USAF who had been a test pilot for years, and one time I mentioned the V-22 Osprey and his eyes went wide, he leaned in close and burst out “that is an awesome aircraft!” I’d forgotten he had flown every kind of aircraft the USAF owns.

Well the Valor is the Osprey on steroids. They learned a lot with the first tilt-rotor and applied it there. (Note the engines don’t tilt, just the rotor assembly.). The speed, maneuverability and range are much greater. The wing doesn’t fold the way the Osprey’s does so it takes up a lot of deck space (as you noted), but you can expect future versions will do that for the Navy. That will give it a smaller footprint than the Blackhawk, Pavehawk, Seahawk, and Jayhawk. The Valor is a natural replacement for the Osprey, and the Blackhawk, though technically it does not replace the Osprey, which is larger. I think they share the same engines though, so without checking my guess is the Valor lifts more. I followed the competition with the Defiant, and for once I think DoD made a great call. We can imagine them unmanned moving cargo, doing CAS, moving troops, ambulances, anything you need. If the BLP Suncell delivers, they’ll have virtually unlimited range and even more speed.

I like it!