Fixing US Defense Procurement: A Texas Independent Helicopter Example

Austin Bay on Mar 20, 2024

What the Army really needs is a light attack helicopter working with drones, "pilot in the loop" synergy manned systems working with unmanned aerial and ground weapons systems.

A lot of soldiers know that to be true. So do savvy aeronautical engineers.

After the Army cancelled the contract in February, I contacted a weapons designer I know, a Texan named George Hamilton. Hamilton is a U.S. Army vet. I wanted his thoughts on the light attack helicopter fiasco.

I've seen several of Hamilton's designs and products. He has designed, built and flown his own airplanes. I've mentioned in a column an innovative ship he designed. A couple of years ago, I visited his workshop, and he showed me a sniper rifle he had prototyped and a sketch of a helicopter.

The first week of March, he called me and asked me to come to his workshop so we could discuss the Army's defunct contract.

In his workshop, he said it was time to see what he kept "behind the curtain."

I saw a full-size "master plug" of his light attack chopper's center section. Then he showed me the rest of the helicopter.

The components were molded all-composite material. Composite manufacturing is cutting-edge 21st-century aircraft manufacturing. All-composite material construction also reduces a warplane's radar and sensor signatures.

Hamilton told me he began developing the helicopter several years ago, on his own. Why? Here's the gist of what he said: "I knew the big manufacturers weren't going to build what the ground combat soldiers need."

He said the composite frame can accept an engine rated in excess of 2,300 horsepower, which was a requirement of the now-defunct contract.

In the heyday of American aircraft design and manufacturing, mechanical and aeronautical engineers who insisted on quality ran the big companies. Today, the big companies are run by "finance guys" with MBAs -- and Boeing's airplanes fall apart in the sky. But their big-business lobbyists keep the contracts coming.

It's time to revive American manufacturing with "little guy" innovation and insistence on quality.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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