Pentagon Contract Announcement
The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $100,000 minimum, $45,000,000 maximum indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract (H92241-19-D-0001) for 56 upgraded primary airframe structures for the A/MH-6 rotary wing aircraft.
Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $5,173,400 shall be obligated at the time of award. The majority of the work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona. This contract is a non-competitive award and is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302.1.
U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity.
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Source: http://www.defense-aerospace.com
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(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Nov 26, 2018)
The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $100,000 minimum, $45,000,000 maximum indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract (H92241-19-D-0001) for 56 upgraded primary airframe structures for the A/MH-6 rotary wing aircraft.
Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $5,173,400 shall be obligated at the time of award. The majority of the work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona. This contract is a non-competitive award and is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302.1.
U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity.
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Source: http://www.defense-aerospace.com
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Boeing Awarded $45M for 56 Upgraded A/MH-6 Airframe Structures
Our Bureau | 01:11 AM, November 27, 2018
Boeing was awarded a maximum of $45 million contract for 56 upgraded primary airframe structures for the A/MH-6 rotary wing aircraft. Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $5,173,400 shall be obligated at the time of award. The majority of the work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, the United States department of defense said in a statement Monday.
This contract is a non-competitive award and is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302.1. US Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Source: http://www.defenseworld.net/news
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MH-6M / AH-6M Little Bird Helicopter
The AH-6M / MH-6M 'Little Bird' are light attack/assault helicopters operated by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers). Both the AH-6M and MH-6M are based around a civilian airframe (MD530F), with extensive modifications in terms of avionics and provisions for the mounting of specialized equipment and weapons systems.
A MH-6M pictured in-flight, carrying Rangers strapped to benches along the fuselage.
photo courtesy US Army
AH-6/MH-6 - Crew
Although Little Birds can be crewed by just one pilot, it's more common that they are crewed by 2 Night Stalkers i.e. a Pilot and Co-pilot.
AH-6M Features
Based around the MD530 airframe, the AH-6M gunship features lightweight pylons for the loading over a number of weapons systems including:
- M134 miniguns
- M260 FFAR rocket pods
- AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided anti-tank missiles
- GAU-19 .50 cal 3-barrel gatling guns
For target acquisition, the AH-6M's AN/ZSQ-3 (V2 Attack) FLIR sensor features a laser range finder and target designator via which the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles can be targeted.
AH-6M light attack helicopter armed with (left to right) M260 FFAR rocket pod, M134 7.62 minigun and GAU-19 .50 cal gatling gun.
U.S. Marine Corps photograph by SSgt. Artur Shvartsberg, MAWTS-1 COMCAM/Released
MH-6M Features
The MH-6M is configured for the insertion and extraction of special operations forces and can be configured with specialized equipment for this task:
- external personnel pods (EPS)
fold-down benches fitted each side of the fuselage which each can hold 2-3 men - fast rope insertion / extraction (FRIES) gear
- racks for carrying motorcycles (up to 2)
- winch / hoist system
Rangers deploy from MH-6M via fast-rope. The FRIES gear features a bolt-on frame to which the set of ropes are attached. A manual quick-release mechanism drops the ropes to the ground once the fast-rope insertion is complete.
U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Gabriel Segura
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RELATED CONTENT:
Congress Concerned About AH/MH-6 Little Bird’s Future
SOCOM to continue upgrades while looking for replacement around 2030
John M. Vannoy, SOCOM’s Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Rotary Wing, said at the recent Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC), that in the near to medium term SOCOM will continue to upgrade the fleet of 51 AH/MH-6 Little Birds rather than replacing it.
“They’re in a critical design review [CDR] for the Block 3 aircraft now, and that in fact will not replace, but will refresh that fleet, provide some more capability, but also provide some legs, life into that fleet to stretch us out into the 2020s,” Vannoy said.
“All 51 … will have a new structure airframe; we’ll balk more performance out of the Rolls-Royce engine; we’ll throw in a new cockpit that will look very similar to a smaller lighter version of our Rockwell CASS cockpits in the rest of our aircraft… ,” he said, adding that this was “both an approach to sustain this further out to the 2020-2030 time frame – where you see that MLBX, whatever it may be, what’s next – to sustain it, but also give us more capability.”
The AH/MH-6 fleet has been used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR) since it began operations under a different designation in 1980.
Little Birds drop USASOC soldiers on a rooftop during a Capabilities Exercise in April 2012. The Little Bird has been incrementally improved over the years. USASOC photo
“All 51 … will have a new structure airframe; we’ll balk more performance out of the Rolls-Royce engine; we’ll throw in a new cockpit that will look very similar to a smaller lighter version of our Rockwell CASS cockpits in the rest of our aircraft… ,” he said, adding that this was “both an approach to sustain this further out to the 2020-2030 time frame – where you see that MLBX, whatever it may be, what’s next – to sustain it, but also give us more capability.”
The AH/MH-6 fleet has been used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR) since it began operations under a different designation in 1980.
