US Navy looking for MH-60R and MQ-8 replacement

[RavenOne]

The hunt is in for replacement of both the Sikorsky MH-60R and N-G Firescout for mid 2030S onwards

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...aOmY33IsAmRlh_xly8_u-ESImIPNY5XR5NPcPAvpwhS8s
cheera

 

[yasotay]

Initially it is being touted as the FVL Cap Set 2 air vehicle. This is being done, I believe, to announce that the Navy wants more than a MH-60Z. Which, after the requirements people and the engineers haggle for a couple years, is exactly what they will get because there just is not a lot of room in the helo deck for more substantial rotorcraft. I think first and foremost they will want something that can efficiently hover for extended periods.
I would be very happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/us/navy-helicopter-crash-san-diego.html

Search efforts were ongoing early Wednesday, according to the Navy.

Military officials identified the helicopter that crashed as an MH-60S, a model that has been in use since 2002, according to the Naval Air Systems Command.

The helicopter had been assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier based in San Diego. In a statement on Facebook on Wednesday, Lincoln officials called the crash a “tragedy.”

Hopefully the missing crew members will be found alive.

Equally hopefully, that this is not a sign that the ongoing maintenance crisis is getting even worse.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Old SPF thread on the last attempt to replace the Seahawk:
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/maritime-helicopter-mh-xx.19966/

 

[Scott Kenny]

Initially it is being touted as the FVL Cap Set 2 air vehicle. This is being done, I believe, to announce that the Navy wants more than a MH-60Z. Which, after the requirements people and the engineers haggle for a couple years, is exactly what they will get because there just is not a lot of room in the helo deck for more substantial rotorcraft. I think first and foremost they will want something that can efficiently hover for extended periods.
I would be very happy to be proven wrong.

I'll bet you a good steak dinner (I can buy wagyu beef at my local supermarket!) that the Navy is going to end up getting an H-60 with ITEP T901 engines in it. And maybe a 5 bladed rotor to help put that power into the air, but that's a long shot.

There's not really anything else that would fit into the hangars that is in production.