미 해병대 CH-53K 헬기 개발 소식, USMC CH-53K faces multiyear slide...

 

AW&ST 에 3월 중순과 4월초에 보도된 미국 시콜스키社가 개발하고 있는 CH-53K 소식입니다. 두 기사를 살펴보면,

기술적으로 CH-53K 를 개발하는 과정에서 제작사가 해결해 나가고 있는 문제점들을 파악함과 동시에, 미 해병대가

겪고 있는 예산문제가 오히려 제작사 입장에서는 CH-53K 개발과정에 시간적으로 도움이 될거라는 내용입니다.

 

마침 최근 우리 대한민국 해군의 소해헬기 필요성이 강조되는 시점에서 MH-60R 소개에 이어 CH-53K 소식을 소개

합니다. 대잠/소해헬기로는 정말 탐나는 기종입니다만, 획득비용이 너무 고가여서 계획하는 MH-60 계열이나 차질

없이 도입되기를 바라는 바 입니다.

 

CH-53K 개발과정 및 제원은 이곳을 참조하시면 됩니다.  --->  Sikorsky CH-53K

 

  US Marines CH-53E Super Stallion. ⓒ US Navy

 

Marine CH-53K Faces Multiyear Slide

AW&ST, Apr 2, 2010

By Bettina H. Chavanne

 

The first flight of the U.S. Marine Corps’ heavy lifter CH-53K helicopter has slipped two years to 2013, while its initial operational capability (IOC) has slid three years to 2018, officials have confirmed to AVIATION WEEK.

 

The date slips come as no surprise to the Marines and the CH-53K program office at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair). In January 2009, program manager Capt. Rick Muldoon submitted a Program Deviation Report for the aircraft’s critical design review (CDR) to the Pentagon acquisition headquarters. The CDR is now slated for September, representing a year’s delay.

 

“The FY ’18 IOC was directly tied to the [FY ’11] presidential budget,” Muldoon tells Aviation Week. The Marines had been hesitant to reveal new program milestone dates until the budget was finalized. “I needed to know the funding profile” prior to confirming a new plan for the aircraft, Muldoon says. “We’re delivering to the current execution schedule we laid in place, which ties in nicely to the FY ’18 IOC.”

 

Muldoon says the original CH-53K schedule was “overly aggressive.” The push to 2018 allows more time for manufacturer Sikorsky, the Navy and Marines to achieve the right technical maturity on all the aircraft systems. Muldoon says the date also dovetails better with the Navy’s 2014 future budget consideration of the CH-53K for its own heavy-lift needs. And it will help provide a full-rate production aircraft for pitching to prospective international customers.

 

This coming fall, Navair will perform a contract modification and revised acquisition program baseline. “This is not a do-over of the contract,” he says. “We’re just continuing to do as we always do … As we make changes we determine the scope and make appropriate modifications.”

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fine Tuning

Aviation Week & Space Technology, 03/22/2010

Author: Bettina H. Chavanne

 

When Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. changed its outsourcing strategy on the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter, it decided to design and manufacture five of the most complicated rotor parts and gearbox housings in-house. But an aircraft of that size needs space — a lot of space. So Sikorsky carved out a high-tech area in the factory to welcome the newest member of the fleet.

 

The size and complexity of the aircraft is in the numbers: 330,000 lb. of titanium for the program, five-axis machining centers that will create a 900-lb. rotor hub from a raw titanium part weighing 2,450 lb., automated machining stations with 360 cutting tools . . . and the list goes on. on Jan. 22, Sikorsky opened the doors to its Precision Components Technology Center. “We justified the center based on the [requirements of the] CH-53K, but the idea was to have a place where we could [also] develop new products,” says Brian DeBlasi, Sikorsky’s manager of new product development.

 

The company has divided its plant into cells, each devoted to a very specific building or machining task. “There was no way to get into the cells to make new product” without disrupting the current workflow, explains DeBlasi, “And the CH-53K is larger than anything we’ve ever built.”

 

The main rotor hub is 66 in. in diameter and arrives at Sikorsky as a raw, unmachined, 2,450-lb part. The first milling operation machines the hub down to 960 lb. Sikorsky chose the equipment for the Precision Components Technology Center “for torque,” says DeBlasi. The machines are almost as elaborate as the parts they are crafting. one holds 360 different cutting tools, which is twice the number in the largest machine in operation today at Sikorsky.

 

There are seven main rotor sleeves on the hub, six with different configurations, twisted at angles to accommodate blade fold. A single rotor sleeve weighs 700 lb. in raw forging form, which is then milled down to 450 lb. The CH-53K rotor sleeve is actually three integrated parts: the sleeve, the horn and the damper attachment. “Some people thought we were crazy” to do it this way, says DeBlasi. “I said we need to take the challenge. We had threading problems on all our designs with horn attachments. We got rid of those problems.”

 

Another way of accommodating complexity was to design the parts around the process, rather than doing the reverse. “We developed complex parts to run through the process we put in place in this center,” says DeBlasi. In the past, “we were always constrained by design.” With the CH-53K, however, “all geometry is based on how we will manufacture [the part].” The anticipated result is a development process that runs more smoothly “than we typically have experienced in the past,” he adds. An in-house integrated product team comprising designers and engineers streamlined the process.

 

“Our vision was to align manufacturing against our business objectives,” says Mark Cherry, Sikorsky’s vice president for Marine Corps programs. “The size and scale [of the CH-53K] drive the need for the center.”

 

  

  US Marines CH-53E Super Stallion. ⓒ US Navy

 

  US Marines CH-53E Super Stallion. ⓒ US Navy