Okay Boeing is on record of now having the design rites to the OH6, with
that said, very little is known what they plan to produce for the project
other than a modified version of the MELB. This could be a major design
change to accommodate all of the extra's and oh yea, it has to carry some
troops in the back too. Are they going to carry them outside like they do
now with the MELB?

Also, the rollover design that everyone crows about in the event of a crash,
was predicated on the design of the OH6, which didn't have outboard weapons
pylons and the such. Doesn't the ARH have to have the capability to shoot
stingers, hellfires and rockets? I don't think the MELB currently does this
either but the OH58D does. No doubt the MELB can be made to do so, but its
another area for redesign...

Food for thought:

1. No one in the market has a product support department that compares to
Bell. It seems that Boeing will have to build up a MELB support department
as I am sure they don't have many to handle such a large quantity sell. I
would think they don't have that many in support for SOF MELB's.

2. With the Bell's ARH being modified from an existing commercial aircraft
(407X) and since these aircraft are to be kept similar, it would seem that
the supportability for these aircraft would be more extensive as
logistically the Army could purchase many parts from a local CSF nearest to
them.

Chuck


"Jim Burt" wrote in message
...
The thread called "Is MDHI going to make it?" drifted into a comparison of
the MD 500 and OH-58D aircraft. What follows is a discussion of the
latter:

All the US Army OH-58Ds were rebuilt (OK, very, very extensively rebuilt
and
modified) OH-58As. The rebuild process took the aircraft down to the
frames, replaced most of the sheet metal and a lot of the composites,
built
new cowlings, fuel storage, rear compartments, tail booms, and all new
dynamic components, as well as completely replacing all the
instrumentation,
avionics, and powerplants. But they started out as OH-58As. The only
"new"
from the skids up OH-58D helicopters were built under contract to Taiwan.

Jim