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Saturday June 12, 1999 :

Boeing Sikorsky Features RAH-66 Comanche at Paris

Paris, France ( Sikorsky Press Release ) - The Boeing Sikorsky Joint Program Office will feature the U.S. Army's 21st century combat helicopter, the RAH-66 Comanche, at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, June 12-20, 1999.

Comanche Prototype No. 2 will be on display in the U.S. pavilion, and the Boeing Sikorsky Comanche Team will operate Chalet #411 near the flight line.

Comanche No. 2 recently completed its initial flight test schedule, accumulating more than four flight hours in four flights in April after its maiden flight on March 30. The aircraft has a total of 4.9 hours in five flights.

During Prototype No. 2's flights, test engineers evaluated and validated primary flight control software and completed data collection for infrared (IR) signature testing on the aircraft's exhaust system. Test flights included about an hour of formation flight with Comanche Prototype No. 1.

Prototype No. 2 is scheduled to resume flight in 2001, when it will serve as the test platform for the Comanche's Mission Equipment Package (MEP), the rotorcraft's integrated digital target acquisition, navigation and communication system.

Following its successful test flights, Prototype No. 2 was on static display at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual meeting and exhibition in Nashville, Tenn., in early May.

The RAH-66 Comanche, the U.S. Army's 21st century combat helicopter, is being developed by U.S. Army Aviation and a team of leading aerospace companies headed by Boeing and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

  • Comanche page
  • Boeing timeline page
  • Sikorsky timeline page