It would be an option if training of the Army was their intended role.What are the opinions on their suitability to overseas deployments in the modern environment?
Would have to question their suitability for night ops unless a UH-1N (twin huey/212) was on the cards.
With the upcoming Wings Ireland mag, Im on the press release mailing list for Bell.They experienced some problems with the upgrading process to UH-1Y standard.
The upgraded engines were producing more heat and this caused structural problems on the tail boom of the aircraft directly beneath the engines exhausts.Apparantly the intended solutuin is to use standard infra red exhaust deflectors as standard.
H-1 program officials paused flight testing February 5 because of
decreased structural strength in tail boom components caused by increased
engine exhaust temperatures and higher loads and torque imparted on the tail
boom by the upgraded T-700 engines.
"Tail boom heating has had our interest since flight-testing began
in 2000, but the full impact has only recently become apparent," explained
Col. Doug Isleib, H-1 program manager here. "We'd prefer that these sorts
of things didn't crop up, but we'd rather deal with them now than have them
be problems for Marines out in the fleet. This is why we do developmental
flight test in the first place."
