Joint Heavy Lift Program: Breakthrough, Borg, or Backwater?

JHL: QTR Concept
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In 2005, the US military and NASA announced the kickoff of the Army-led Joint Heavy Lift program, with the award of 5 contracts for the Concept Design and Analysis (CDA) of a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) rotorcraft. This is a futuristic aircraft that’s imagined as having the C-130 Hercules aircraft’s 20 ton cargo capacity, but with the ability to take off and land like a helicopter. No current US military helicopter platform even comes close to that vision, and so the competitors are deploying some radical and different technologies in their attempts to meet these goals. DID covers each of them below.

CH-53E Super Stallion

At the same time, the US Marine Corps’ vital medium-heavy lift CH-53E Super Sea Stallion helicopters are beginning to to wear out their airframes. Hence the HLR Heavy Lift Replacement (HLR) program, aimed at fielding new-build CH-53K aircraft beginning in 2013-2015. The US Air Force, meanwhile, has its AJACS program, which aims to produce a C-130 replacement beginning around 2020.

All 3 programs may face a rough ride ahead. Runaway cost growth on numerous US defense programs, operational demands, and a looming demographic crisis in social programs all work to create budget squeezes, and hence pressures for program consolidation. The USMC’s affordable CH-53X track upgrade was very nearly sidetracked via a merger with he R&D heavy, schedule-uncertain, JHL, and may not be in the clear yet. The USAF’s AJACS program to replace the C-130 Hercules with a modern 20+ ton transport is also facing scrutiny of this sort, and those pressures, too may increase. Conversely, it is also possible that the JHL program could find itself edged out by a pair of more conventional helicopter and aircraft solutions from the USMC and USAF. DID notes the technologies, the politics, and progress to date.

Recent news includes a report that shows just how far away the US military is from a viable competition and winning design…

• The JHL Program
• The Contenders
  • The Modernized Standbys [updated]
  • Sikorsky’s Compound Helicopter Option [updated]
  • The Tilt-Rotors [updated]
• Contracts and Key Developments [updated]
• Appendix A: ‘Borging’ HLR & the CH-53’s Future (Oct 2005)
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources – JHL Program
• Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources – HLR Program (CH-53X)

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