Upon returning in July, the -60R and -60S squadrons (HSM-71, HSC-8), which deployed with more aircraft than traditional (19 vs. 12), reported greater effectiveness, particularly in the sea control and anti-surface roles. The MH-60R and S frequently operated as a hunter-killer team, the 60R using its sensors to obtain situational awareness while the 60S came in and took out any small threats. The next MH-60R/S squadrons to deploy (HSM-77, HSC-2) will join the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group early in 2010.

Across the Atlantic, the French army spent the first half of the year preparing to send three of its 20 Eurocopter Tiger HAP tactical helicopters to Afghanistan. The aircraft from the 5th Helicopter Regiment arrived in Kabul on July 26, ready to partake in armed reconnaissance and fire support missions with ISAF forces. The Tiger remains a competitor for the Indian Air Force’s attack helicopter requirement, in contention with the Kamov Ka-50 and Mil Mi-28 for a 22 unit order.

A month earlier, the French Defense Ministry ordered five EC725 Cougar medium-lift helicopters as part of the government’s economic stimulus plan. The five new Cougars will join 14 EC725s already in operation in a variety of missions, including NATO ISAF support. The order follows a March Mexican Ministry of Defense buy of six EC725s for transport and security missions. Meanwhile, AgustaWestland was awarded a Helicopter Tactics Program Implementation study contract by the European Defence Agency, and delivered its 21st AW101 helicopter to the Italian Navy, which has ordered 24 for ASW and other missions.

In June, a miniature helicopter (Scheibel’s Camcopter S-100) became the first UAV ever to fly a demonstration at the Paris Air Show. The significance was not lost on the industry/government gathering, as militaries around the globe start to seriously embrace unmanned systems for a variety of airborne roles.

One of the most significant is the U.S Navy/Army Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout, which embarked on a series of tests and demonstrations in a year leading up to its first deployment. The Fire Scout (P6) ushered the year in with nine autonomous landings aboard USS Nashville (LPD 13) in late January. Dynamic interface testing continued through the spring, with autonomous landings on USS McInerney (FFG 8) and May tests of the aircraft’s Unmanned Common Automatic Recovery System.

Operational Evaluation was expected in August, during which a land-based MQ-8B (designated P7) successfully demonstrated its reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition/intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (RSTA/ISR) capabilities at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. P7 capability demonstrations were scheduled to continue through the fall. The same month, Northrop Grumman landed a maritime sensor demonstration contract from ABS Group, a systems engineering contractor for the U.S. Coast Guard. The test will validate ship-deployed UAS aircraft payload capabilities using a USN baseline sensor payload (FLIR Systems, Inc., BriteStar II electro-optical/infrared/laser designator range finder and Telephonics 1700B search, surveillance, tracking and imaging radar system).

Evidence of how seriously Vertical Unmanned Aircraft Systems are being taken surfaced in May with a Marine Corps request-for-proposals for an “Immediate Cargo Unmanned Aerial System.” The RFP calls for a VUAS capable of delivering ten tons of supplies at high altitudes and across distances of 150 miles within 24 hours. The Marines want to field the new aircraft in 2010. Boeing and Kaman Aerospace/Lockheed Martin have received contracts to demonstrate their potential candidates by the end of 2009.

Boeing will demonstrate the A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft that it successfully flew at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in May. Kaman/Lockheed Martin will demonstrate an unmanned version of Kaman’s K-MAX intermeshing rotor helicopter. Other candidates include the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout and the Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology SnowGoose.

Army observers will also be involved in the demonstration phase, though Naval Air systems Command will be the contracting authority. Marine Corps Systems Command developed the requirement based on an urgent need for troop resupply at forward operating bases in Afghanistan, which have required truck convoys crossing rough terrain along ambush-vulnerable routes.