Huey replacement aircraft will not come from Bell

Bell Helicopter will not pitch an aircraft to replace the UH-1N Huey fleet it built for the Air Force, a company official confirmed to Inside Defense Wednesday.

Scott Clifton, Bell's global military business development director, said at the Air Force Association's fall conference at National Harbor, MD, the UH-1Y Venom, a successor to the Huey, could fly the legacy fleet's missions of nuclear missile base defense and executive transportation. But the replacement program's stringent requirements would require an investment Bell viewed as an imprudent business move, Clifton said.

The company did not take issue with any one particular requirement, he added, but with the 84-aircraft fleet's specifications overall.The Air Force will purchase armed, armored helicopters that can carry at least nine combat-loaded troops, cruise at a minimum speed of 135 knots, and fly for at least 225 nautical miles and three hours before refueling. Additional requirements include the need to fly at 6,000 feet in 95-degree weather and integration of five off-the-shelf items: a hoist, forward-looking infrared cameras, an auxiliary tank, a Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System bar and secure communications. Companies will be graded on whether they can deliver aircraft between 14 and 18 months after the production contract award.

A Boeing-Leonardo team is pitching the MH-139, a militarized version of a civil Leonardo helicopter, while Sikorsky is offering the HH-60U, a sibling to the HH-60W on contract to become the Air Force's Combat Rescue Helicopter. A production contract award is expected in mid-2018.