https://verticalmag.com/news/columbia-and-piasecki-partner-on-upgrade-for-107-ii-and-ch-46e-helicopters/ The pulse of the rotorcraft industry Fri, 05 Jul 2024 02:49:30 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://verticalmag.com/news/columbia-and-piasecki-partner-on-upgrade-for-107-ii-and-ch-46e-helicopters/#comment-296123 Fri, 05 Jul 2024 02:49:30 +0000 https://verticalmag.com/?post_type=news&p=409672#comment-296123 The Marine CH-46E helicopter fleet was in exceptionally good condition when it was retired – and the logistic and supply chain trail is still largely in place with tremendous stocks of spares in preservation/storage. These helicopters are simple and the aircraft lends itself to transformation – as the State Department Aviation Division discovered when the CH-46E was chosen for their use. I suspect that this will be a highly successful program and that the initially quoted market potential of 90 aircraft is low by a factor of 2-3X.
It is surprising that a similar program for the UH-60A has not surfaced – likely because of the lack of preceding Standard Category certificate paperwork that gives the BV-107 an advantage.

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