So, a few weeks ago or so I sent the attached photo of an odd looking SH-60B out to a few places, this being one. I reached out to the Sikorsky archives and they sent me back what they had. I included the attachment for reference, but according to the martial Sikorsky provided: “A full-scale mock-up of Sikorsky Aircraft's proposed U.S. Navy LAMPS Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) helicopter was unveiled May 13 at the opening of the American Helicopter Society's annual three-day forum at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, Following the forum, the mock-up was taken on a tour of three key naval installations It was exhibited at the Naval Air Test Center. Patuxent River, Md. on May 20; at the Norfolk Va. Naval Air Station on May 28 and 29, and will visit the Naval Air Development Center Warminster. Pa on June 5.” Sikorsky said they actually didn’t have a photo of it themselves. I recommend reading the entire article rom 1975 they sent (attached) if you are interested in the beginning of the Navy H-60 program. I also learned today the museum where I volunteer is getting an SH-60B. Brian
Brian's mock-up picture is before Army UTTAS flight testing revealed the prototype UH-60A inflight vibration levels were well above specification. At that time, the Boeing UTTAS candidate did meet the vibration spec. Subsequently Sikorsky added an extension to the main rotor mast to raise the main rotor and thus reduce airframe vibrations. That move was successful, and Sikorsky ultimately won the competition. As a point of interest, my Navy LAMPS MKIII source selection vote was for the Boeing candidate, but others prevailed. The following year, Mike Coumatis flew a prototype Black Hawk and landed on a Navy frigate to demonstrate the need to move the tail wheel forward. I flew the first Seahawk flight with a factory test pilot in February 1979, and subsequently Dick Childers and I flew all the initial Seahawk Flying Quality and Performance (FQ&P) test flights, and RAST workups. I served as the NATC LAMPS MKIII Program Manager from June 1977 until my HSL-32 squadron command tour in Feb 1981. I piloted the first Navy flight and was the first NATOPS qualified pilot of the SH-60B Seahawk, am listed in Jane’s Who’s Who in Aviation and Aerospace: U.S. Edition and is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Dick Childers continued the RAST testing, and Larrie Cable and his team performed most of the LAMPS MKIII systems testing. Following my command tour, I was assigned as the Deputy LAMPS MKIII PM in PMA-266 at NAVAIR. At the time, LAMPS MKIII and the F-18 were the only major Navy acquisition programs to not suffer any aircraft losses during developmental flight testing. John Olmsted, CAPT USN (ret) -----Original Message----- From: Brian Miller <brianjmiller1977@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 12:00 AM To: Helobubbas <helobubbas@helobubbas.com> Subject: [Helobubbas] UTTAS Prototype So, a few weeks ago or so I sent the attached photo of an odd looking SH-60B out to a few places, this being one. I reached out to the Sikorsky archives and they sent me back what they had. I included the attachment for reference, but according to the martial Sikorsky provided: “A full-scale mock-up of Sikorsky Aircraft's proposed U.S. Navy LAMPS Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) helicopter was unveiled May 13 at the opening of the American Helicopter Society's annual three-day forum at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, Following the forum, the mock-up was taken on a tour of three key naval installations It was exhibited at the Naval Air Test Center. Patuxent River, Md. on May 20; at the Norfolk Va. Naval Air Station on May 28 and 29, and will visit the Naval Air Development Center Warminster. Pa on June 5.” Sikorsky said they actually didn’t have a photo of it themselves. I recommend reading the entire article rom 1975 they sent (attached) if you are interested in the beginning of the Navy H-60 program. I also learned today the museum where I volunteer is getting an SH-60B. Brian
I had no idea that this went back to 1975. I really had thought it was more around 78/9. I don't know much about the Boeing version but from what I have seen and the little I know I would have preferred it as well. I probably fall outside the typical party line on that. I still think some sort of re-imagined H-3 type design - maritime from the start is probably best for the Navy. A lot of maintenance and fixes and re-designs went into making the Army 60 into the Navy 60. Having a number of years living around the Puma family, I absolutely love flying the AS-332L1 Super Puma. It might be a tad slower than the 60 but the internal volume and flying qualities are really good and it has Sikorsky engineering DNA from some former Engineers who went to Aerospatiale in the 60s to help design the original Puma. Has an elastomeric head and no dampers needed on it. It's manual foldable with a kit. The Puma is the free worlds alternative to the Huey and all of them fit on decks better than a MH-60S does with it's conventional retractable landing gear. If I was going to start out fresh today. It would have 5 blades, 2 engines, be built with materials to live in a salty environment, be maintainable, Use fiberoptics for all data then all they need is a power supply. Configured to float upright in the event of a ditching ala S-92 and every other modern oil industry helicopter. Modular quick changeable mission modules. Very long range, maybe a compound helicopter with folding wings. Or maybe we go back to a tandem rotor design. Future ship classes need to incorporate taller bigger hangers by design. Should be able to put a folding tail S-92 in it, or sized to fit a legacy 46 or H-3 just to get the scale right. Nobody is going to ask me but despite that I do have a vision if I was in charge the basics I would want. I don't think we are done with tandems either. The HSC guys would still be far better off with a new tandem and maybe if you can make something to fit that might be the next option for a Navy based helicopter. Less complex than a coaxial and in this day and age every bit of drivetrain and structure has superior materials and design to build off. I am sure there was some politics or a confort level working with Sikorsky on the Navy rotary wing side. With Lockheed running them now I am not so sure I have that comfort anymore. On 1/28/2026 9:42 AM, olmsteaj@erols.com wrote:
Brian's mock-up picture is before Army UTTAS flight testing revealed the prototype UH-60A inflight vibration levels were well above specification. At that time, the Boeing UTTAS candidate did meet the vibration spec. Subsequently Sikorsky added an extension to the main rotor mast to raise the main rotor and thus reduce airframe vibrations. That move was successful, and Sikorsky ultimately won the competition. As a point of interest, my Navy LAMPS MKIII source selection vote was for the Boeing candidate, but others prevailed. The following year, Mike Coumatis flew a prototype Black Hawk and landed on a Navy frigate to demonstrate the need to move the tail wheel forward. I flew the first Seahawk flight with a factory test pilot in February 1979, and subsequently Dick Childers and I flew all the initial Seahawk Flying Quality and Performance (FQ&P) test flights, and RAST workups. I served as the NATC LAMPS MKIII Program Manager from June 1977 until my HSL-32 squadron command tour in Feb 1981. I piloted the first Navy flight and was the first NATOPS qualified pilot of the SH-60B Seahawk, am listed in Jane’s Who’s Who in Aviation and Aerospace: U.S. Edition and is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Dick Childers continued the RAST testing, and Larrie Cable and his team performed most of the LAMPS MKIII systems testing. Following my command tour, I was assigned as the Deputy LAMPS MKIII PM in PMA-266 at NAVAIR. At the time, LAMPS MKIII and the F-18 were the only major Navy acquisition programs to not suffer any aircraft losses during developmental flight testing.
John Olmsted, CAPT USN (ret)
-----Original Message----- From: Brian Miller <brianjmiller1977@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 12:00 AM To: Helobubbas <helobubbas@helobubbas.com> Subject: [Helobubbas] UTTAS Prototype
So, a few weeks ago or so I sent the attached photo of an odd looking SH-60B out to a few places, this being one. I reached out to the Sikorsky archives and they sent me back what they had. I included the attachment for reference, but according to the martial Sikorsky provided:
“A full-scale mock-up of Sikorsky Aircraft's proposed U.S. Navy LAMPS Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) helicopter was unveiled May 13 at the opening of the American Helicopter Society's annual three-day forum at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, Following the forum, the mock-up was taken on a tour of three key naval installations It was exhibited at the Naval Air Test Center. Patuxent River, Md. on May 20; at the Norfolk Va. Naval Air Station on May 28 and 29, and will visit the Naval Air Development Center Warminster. Pa on June 5.”
Sikorsky said they actually didn’t have a photo of it themselves. I recommend reading the entire article rom 1975 they sent (attached) if you are interested in the beginning of the Navy H-60 program. I also learned today the museum where I volunteer is getting an SH-60B.
Brian
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Does anyone know if helo squadrons still disperse ashes of veterans On Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 12:50:21 PM CST, Kevin Black <kblack1967@gmail.com> wrote: I had no idea that this went back to 1975. I really had thought it was more around 78/9. I don't know much about the Boeing version but from what I have seen and the little I know I would have preferred it as well. I probably fall outside the typical party line on that. I still think some sort of re-imagined H-3 type design - maritime from the start is probably best for the Navy. A lot of maintenance and fixes and re-designs went into making the Army 60 into the Navy 60. Having a number of years living around the Puma family, I absolutely love flying the AS-332L1 Super Puma. It might be a tad slower than the 60 but the internal volume and flying qualities are really good and it has Sikorsky engineering DNA from some former Engineers who went to Aerospatiale in the 60s to help design the original Puma. Has an elastomeric head and no dampers needed on it. It's manual foldable with a kit. The Puma is the free worlds alternative to the Huey and all of them fit on decks better than a MH-60S does with it's conventional retractable landing gear. If I was going to start out fresh today. It would have 5 blades, 2 engines, be built with materials to live in a salty environment, be maintainable, Use fiberoptics for all data then all they need is a power supply. Configured to float upright in the event of a ditching ala S-92 and every other modern oil industry helicopter. Modular quick changeable mission modules. Very long range, maybe a compound helicopter with folding wings. Or maybe we go back to a tandem rotor design. Future ship classes need to incorporate taller bigger hangers by design. Should be able to put a folding tail S-92 in it, or sized to fit a legacy 46 or H-3 just to get the scale right. Nobody is going to ask me but despite that I do have a vision if I was in charge the basics I would want. I don't think we are done with tandems either. The HSC guys would still be far better off with a new tandem and maybe if you can make something to fit that might be the next option for a Navy based helicopter. Less complex than a coaxial and in this day and age every bit of drivetrain and structure has superior materials and design to build off. I am sure there was some politics or a confort level working with Sikorsky on the Navy rotary wing side. With Lockheed running them now I am not so sure I have that comfort anymore. On 1/28/2026 9:42 AM, olmsteaj@erols.com wrote:
Brian's mock-up picture is before Army UTTAS flight testing revealed the prototype UH-60A inflight vibration levels were well above specification. At that time, the Boeing UTTAS candidate did meet the vibration spec. Subsequently Sikorsky added an extension to the main rotor mast to raise the main rotor and thus reduce airframe vibrations. That move was successful, and Sikorsky ultimately won the competition. As a point of interest, my Navy LAMPS MKIII source selection vote was for the Boeing candidate, but others prevailed. The following year, Mike Coumatis flew a prototype Black Hawk and landed on a Navy frigate to demonstrate the need to move the tail wheel forward. I flew the first Seahawk flight with a factory test pilot in February 1979, and subsequently Dick Childers and I flew all the initial Seahawk Flying Quality and Performance (FQ&P) test flights, and RAST workups. I served as the NATC LAMPS MKIII Program Manager from June 1977 until my HSL-32 squadron command tour in Feb 1981. I piloted the first Navy flight and was the first NATOPS qualified pilot of the SH-60B Seahawk, am listed in Jane’s Who’s Who in Aviation and Aerospace: U.S. Edition and is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Dick Childers continued the RAST testing, and Larrie Cable and his team performed most of the LAMPS MKIII systems testing. Following my command tour, I was assigned as the Deputy LAMPS MKIII PM in PMA-266 at NAVAIR. At the time, LAMPS MKIII and the F-18 were the only major Navy acquisition programs to not suffer any aircraft losses during developmental flight testing.
John Olmsted, CAPT USN (ret)
-----Original Message----- From: Brian Miller <brianjmiller1977@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 12:00 AM To: Helobubbas <helobubbas@helobubbas.com> Subject: [Helobubbas] UTTAS Prototype
So, a few weeks ago or so I sent the attached photo of an odd looking SH-60B out to a few places, this being one. I reached out to the Sikorsky archives and they sent me back what they had. I included the attachment for reference, but according to the martial Sikorsky provided:
“A full-scale mock-up of Sikorsky Aircraft's proposed U.S. Navy LAMPS Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) helicopter was unveiled May 13 at the opening of the American Helicopter Society's annual three-day forum at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, Following the forum, the mock-up was taken on a tour of three key naval installations It was exhibited at the Naval Air Test Center. Patuxent River, Md. on May 20; at the Norfolk Va. Naval Air Station on May 28 and 29, and will visit the Naval Air Development Center Warminster. Pa on June 5.”
Sikorsky said they actually didn’t have a photo of it themselves. I recommend reading the entire article rom 1975 they sent (attached) if you are interested in the beginning of the Navy H-60 program. I also learned today the museum where I volunteer is getting an SH-60B.
Brian
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participants (4)
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BETTY PETERSEN -
Brian Miller -
Kevin Black -
olmsteaj＠erols.com