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US Navy TH-57C trainer replacement contenders

Well in lieu of the Leonardo/Boeing MH-139 winning the contract to replace the legacy USAF UH-1N , there is another competition to replace the 115 fleet strong of US Navy Bell TH-57C Sea Rangers. There was a plan initially to upgrade them to D models but that got shelved. The Navy is looking for COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) solution, the March request for information (RFI) posted on Federal Business Opportunities, the USN anticipates a fleet size of 105 aircraft flying 77,000 annual hours.

Here are some of the contenders

Leonardo offering the TH-119 based on their AW119Ke

TH-119 | Advanced Helicopter Trainer




Airbus Helicopters offering the TH135 with Helionix as what Ascent Flying Training is using at Shawbury. There is also a USN instrcutor exchange with German Navy/Marineflieger MFG-5 flying the EC135 which is supplied by DL Helikopter for multi engine training / supplement flying training of Marineflieger crews.

Home

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and of course Bell offering the Bell 407 GXi (previously they offered the Bell 407GX). The Bell 407GXi has Garmin’s G1000H® NXi Integrated Flight Deck and Rolls-Royce M250-C47E/4 dual-channel FADEC turbine engine.

(My photos from launch of 407GXi at Heli Expo 2018 in Las Vegas)

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This will undoubtedly involve the pork barrel machine cranked up to the max, against European designs...same ol, same ol.

One part of the requirement is for multi engine trainer and as I said Leonardo AW119Ke can behave / simulate in a multi engine fashion. If push comes to shove, they will also offer the Trekker.

Maybe they are following the army way of UH-72A ...multi engined.

Bell 407GXi be a natural US seLection, follow on from the 57/206 airframe however it does and it does not tick the boxes.

Also both Airbus Heli and Leonardo have dedicated US Navy trainer website for their offerings whereas Bell 407GXi navy trainer is scroll down the Bell 407GXi product page.

Cheers
 
This will undoubtedly involve the pork barrel machine cranked up to the max, against European designs...same ol, same ol.

Tech question for you about Irish Air Corps flying training for helo crews...

Everyone flies PC-9 then gets streamed , though seems for small country like Ireland...seems tad expensive to jump into basic flying trianing on twin from an equally expensive trainer. Logically, start off in say a Diamond trianer or some side by side thing (shades of SF26) and then train on Robbo 44 (sorry me bien biased here) or Bell 206 or even Airbus Helicopters H125 then move onto 135 or 139.

If I am correct your H135 is also used for EMS as well.

Laughingly I just realised the Dutch National Police flies both the H135 (observation and other stuff )and AW139 (more for coast guard and SWAT team role)..

Cheers
 
I stand to be corrected, but it would seem Rolls Royce does have an interest in this.

A few minutes googling indicates:

Airbus H135 uses TWIN x PW206B engines, from P&W Canada.

Bell 429 Global Ranger uses TWIN x PW207D1 engines.

Leonardo (AugustaWestland) TH-119, uses SINGLE x PT6B engine, from P&W Canada.

Bell 407GXi uses SINGLE x M250-C47E engine, from Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce M250-C47E engine to power new Bell 407GXi helicopter
 
Tech question for you about Irish Air Corps flying training for helo crews...

Everyone flies PC-9 then gets streamed , though seems for small country like Ireland...seems tad expensive to jump into basic flying trianing on twin from an equally expensive trainer. Logically, start off in say a Diamond trianer or some side by side thing (shades of SF26) and then train on Robbo 44 (sorry me bien biased here) or Bell 206 or even Airbus Helicopters H125 then move onto 135 or 139.

If I am correct your H135 is also used for EMS as well.

Laughingly I just realised the Dutch National Police flies both the H135 (observation and other stuff )and AW139 (more for coast guard and SWAT team role)..

Cheers
Cadets start off with 30 odd hours in PC-9 sim, then 120 hours in PC-9. Depending on demand, they would tool around in the Cessna 172 for a year or two and then get streamed, to the Casa 235 (sim course abroad) and later the Garda Defender or the Learjet or rotary (135 (Garda or EMS or instructor) and later 139). Later, if a pilot stays in, with a view to a full mil career, he will do more ground rotations and will have to do a UN tour to have any hope of promotion.
 

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