via Flight Global
The US Marine Corps will have to wait until at least March for its new heavy lift helicopter, the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, to make its maiden flight.How much trust has been lost over the past 4 years?
Originally planned for summer 2014, the King Stallion’s first flight was pushed to the end of the year when a crack was found in one of the four gear boxes of a ground test article. US Naval Air Systems Command now says the aircraft will enter flight testing “sometime between March and May next year.”
“First flight is driven by the current ground test vehicle (GTV) test events,” says Kelly Burdick, a spokesman for the navy’s programme executive office for aviation. “The GTV is currently undergoing powered ground tests to measure and verify the ability of the drive system, transmissions and engines and flight control system to safely fly the CH-53K helicopter across multiple flight scenarios.”
Engineers at NAVAIR and Sikorsky have made adjustments to the CH-53K’s main rotor gearbox to improve load distribution and have been retesting the fix “to ensure optimal performance prior to the flight test phase”, Burdick says.
“All issues discovered to this point have a technical solution and are typical of developmental programs - this is why we do this testing,” she says. “These tests, their data, and their schedule all drive the timeframe for first flight and discoveries are typical during this phase of testing.”
When I get news like this I seriously wonder if we're being lied to. This smacks of the Marine Personnel Carrier drama. Industry was ready to go forward but HQMC kept delaying it to protect funding for the F-35.
Are we seeing the same here?
I just don't know. I do know that we heard all is well, and now suddenly just before the first flight we get news of a delay?
It just doesn't feel right and that's the problem with a lie. Once you're caught telling one you're always suspect. HQMC lied to us so even stuff that should be accepted without question isn't.
This development program started in 2005. In June 2011 Sikorsky began assembly of the CH-53K Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) which was to include 7 main rotor blades and 4 tail rotor blades spinning powered by three 7,500 horsepower class GE engines driving through split torque gearboxes, a recent development.
ReplyDeleteBut full testing didn't start until three years later in May 2014, the start of a rigorous two-year test program. Now they have a crack in a gearbox and so we hear the inevitable - "this is why we do this testing.” Never mind the significant program delay.
This is on top of past delays. GAO, Mar 2014: "Test vehicle production is now approximately 10 months behind schedule, which has delayed the program's first test flight by approximately 4 months. These delays also resulted in a 6-month delay for the CH-53K's production decision, which has been moved to February 2016."
The program development cost has increased one billion dollars. Sikorsky says: Thank you.