RAH-66 Comanche

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[@megaprojects9649]

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[@sharvin2304]

Please make a video on Brahmos missile or ISRO

[@wayneyd2]

$30 billion dollars scam.

[@benheisen2135]

Please make a video on the Red River Diversion project

[@MausMasher54]

Hey Simon, looking for a boondoggle, look at the USAF 485-L, the automated ATO, this was similar to the UH-66 program, add shit, fuck it up, fix it, then add more shit just to fuck it all up one more time, just to fix it once more, ad infinitum, ad nauseum...

[@jeffk464]

It might might not have ever made it into service but it was made into a great combat flight simulator game. So not a total loss.

[@chrisbertucio9779]

So happy to see this video. My father was one of the engineers at Sikorsky who worked on this. I still have the commemorative coin he got for the "First Flight"

[@JM-wu8bh]

Challenge Coin! :) have you considered putting it in a shadow box for display?

[@desperado8605]

One of my mom's students worked on it

[@chrisbertucio9779]

@@JM-wu8bh I've got it on display in my home office along with other momentos from my father.

[@sirfer6969]

Lucky you, it looks like a badass machine.

[@jurgenblick5491]

Wow

[@tonychesser8710]

If you've read "The Design of Design," by Dr Fred Brooks, you know he was invited to a meeting discussing the requirements for this chopper. He was escorted to the meeting by a Marine Corp general who had extensive experience with helicopters. When they were talking about the weapons capabilities, he general was quite happy. When they got to the part of about the ferry range, the general stated that they just killed it; there was no way to have the ferry range AND everything else. Ergo, he knew this was going to be cancelled before they built the first prototype.

[@michalpavlat3943]

The ferry range requested was a complete nonsense. And it had no influence on the project's cancellation anyway.

[@randytaylor1258]

@@michalpavlat3943 You spend time and resources on a "nonsense" and you're not spending it on legitimate issues.

[@altimmons]

Yes that was what I heard when I heard that requirement- what did he say 300 gal gas for two huge engines

[@Power5]

Ferry across the ocean is just a ridiculous requirement. Fighter jets cannot even do that without refueling. I think they put those sorts of requirements just to give them an out when they want to cancel projects.

[@diGritz1]

Yes but...... Later it did become a chopper build on American Chopper. So not all bad. "0_o"

[@mattevans4377]

My favourite unit in Command and Conquer: Generals were Commanches. A horde of them flying into an enemy base was a sight to behold.

[@bothellkenmore]

great game

[@johns8249]

I still play it!

[@BLACKxOPxPRExTARGET]

@@johns8249 are multiplayer games still active?

[@Demoncorp]

Comanche here.....how bout them rocket pods

[@johns8249]

@@BLACKxOPxPRExTARGET not that I know of

[@Tremadog102]

I served with the Comanche in Operation Jungle Strike. I never did figure out how they stored the winch and 6 passengers inside though.

[@Melody_Raventress]

I served as a pilot during that campaign. I hated having to lug around an OICW straight legging a few missions tho'.

[@AB209]

Never understood how the orange paint job contributed to stealth either.

[@nexpro6118]

It was never in service...so how did you serve with it? Lol

[@Tremadog102]

@@nexpro6118 It was a joke. Jungle Strike was a game on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis back in the 90's. It was a pretty good game for the time, too. :)

[@Marqui91]

.... The game? Dude.if yes, deeeep cut. I loved that game. Ad also desert strike IIRC the name

[@jonathonspears7736]

The RAH-66. The best helicopter that never was. It was so close to being adopted it hurts. Imagine them in use today. Even by today's standards it is a marvel of engineering.

[@sir_vix]

I'd posit that that dubious honour might belong to the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne, especially given its prototypes were built in 1967-69.

[@jonathonspears7736]

@@sir_vix Was certainly an interesting contender as well. And 100% way ahead of its time.

[@Cheka__]

It's definitely looks cooler than anything used today.

[@jonathonspears7736]

@@Cheka__ There is a new project for the FARA program that looks very similar but made more cheaply. Look up the Bell 360 Invictus.

[@valjoker7]

@@jonathonspears7736, ahhh the infamous bell ripoff.

[@liferlanceadventures1465]

I met one of the test pilots for this platform in 2018. He was constantly depressed that it didn't make it to full production. According to him it was a perfect blend of an Apache and a Little Bird. Hard to see/find and very potent. I kinda remember him saying it would be a perfect vanguard attack help and great for contested airspace because at the time it was the only US helo being designed to have air to air capabilities. The Zulu Cobra does that now.

[@tokyosmash]

Apaches are capable of carrying Stingers, but it’s one of those things that has disappeared in to manuals.

[@alexg5107]

@@tokyosmash True. I listened to a podcast with an Apache pilot and he said they don't even train to it anymore.

[@tokyosmash]

@@alexg5107 it hasn’t been needed ever, that’s the issue as you can see where short range air defense is playing a huge role in Ukraine

[@arthas640]

To be fair many testers feel the same about their failed prototypes. Prototypes are typically bespoke models that often have features or performance above the production models. It's like those cars you see in popular mechanics that cost $10mil to build and never enter production but can outrun an aircraft.

[@haslettb11]

During my service flying rotorcraft we joked about the LHX by calling it the LHI, or Light Helicopter Imaginary. I love flying and would love to fly any and all aircraft (excepting 1) but because of that bias my advice would be useless.

[@maurvir3197]

Years ago, before it was cancelled, I got to see one of the two flying prototypes of the Comanche. It really was a groundbreaking helicopter in a lot of ways, but it was in development so long that it became obsolete before it ever entered production. I know, because the reason I got to see it was because my job at the time was to work on an upgrade to part of its avionics - upgrading the component from a dual Pentium system (note the lack of letters after that) to a more modern PPC system. This was, amazingly, the SECOND upgrade - the original system used i960 CPUs. It was a shame, because the helicopter had a unique flight control system that made it exceptionally easy to fly. Supposedly, if you could fly a Cessna, you could practically fly a Comanche. Also, the LONGBOW guidance section, which was created specifically for Comanche, survived a while longer until the functionality was sucked into other guidance sections. That GS was almost as impressive as the Comanche itself, with its own internal radar. It was a true fire and forget round.

[@michalpavlat3943]

So no difference from other comparable projects of that time at all.

[@theodorespaghetti973]

I work for Sikorsky and every now and then I run across Comanche files in the archives. It's an enigma that deserved so much more.

[@blu3_enjoy]

Leak that stuff my guy

[@tdsmeds]

Chinese Spies have entered the chat.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:25 - Chapter 1 - Development 5:25 - Mid roll ads 7:05 - Chapter 2 - Specifications & performance 10:55 - Chapter 3 - Weapons 12:50 - Chapter 4 - Flaws 14:55 - Chapter 5 - Cancellation

[@kenos911]

thank you

[@diGritz1]

Missed 1 Chapter 4.5: American Chopper build........ What more could anyone ask out of a military vehicle.

[@timothyhernandez3803]

To tell you how close this airframe came to being in service, I did my ground training for the AH64D in the building that was built to teach the first group of aviators in the AH66 Comanche. There were transmission models for the Comanche on display in the common areas, and of course pictures of the Comanche everywhere. We were told that had the decision been made to move forward with production we would have been among the first groups of aviators to be trained in the new airframe. That was in 2006.

[@CaliforniaReefRat]

Much as I enjoy Simon's documentaries and storytelling style, there are a few things here that I feel were glossed over or not well explained. I worked at Kaiser on integration of the HIDSS system for the Comanche (which he describes as 'akin to modern HUDs' and which would more correctly be termed an ANCESTOR of modern HUDs). The original primary mission of the RAH-66 was a scouting helicopter, coming out of the LHX program. It was not initially intended to replace all of the LHs in use at that time, and most emphatically neither the UH-1 (it's not a troop carrier), nor the AH-1 (it was not initially intended to be a high-volume of fire attack helicopter), but was far more in line with the OH-58 Kiowa's armed scout mission. Nonetheless, as the program continued, more and more mission creep expectations (and the experimental equipment to fulfill them) were piled onto the poor machine until (as Simon mentions) the engine was overtasked to provide reasonable agility to the overladen airframe. The much-mentioned ferrying requirement noted by Brooks was a ridiculous 'kill shot' to an already grossly wounded and limping program. The extensive development cycle DID, however, provide us with experimental test data on a variety of technologies which HAVE gone on to be refined into 'everyday military use' (the HIDSS being one of the most ubiquitous). By the time the program was ended (2+ decades after inception!), cheaper UAVs were rapidly ousting many of the scouting requirements that LHs once fulfilled. I could easily fill a dozen comments with the foolishness of trying to equip helicopters to engage fast-movers to provide air superiority in the US doctrine of combined arms. It isn't really their job, and trying to make it their job impacts their performance significantly (which are you more likely to use in a ground-support flight? Eight AGM-114s, or eight AIM-92s?).

[@Pinkerton221]

I had a scale model of this helicopter that i never finished. Quite fitting when you think about it.

[@pretzelhunt]

You are the Government.

[@BLACKxOPxPRExTARGET]

this is used by navy seals. why do people still believe iits not flying

[@montevallomustang]

🤣🤣 that's the funniest thing I've read today

[@BLACKxOPxPRExTARGET]

@@montevallomustang the binladen raid video shows the tail section when they had to self destruct it

[@CaliforniaReefRat]

@@BLACKxOPxPRExTARGET Of this kid's scale model? No. Read before you reply. As for what the SEALs used, without going into detail it used a lot of the technology developed for the RAH-66, but it absolutely was NOT an RAH-66. For starters, the SEAL machine is a troop carrier, and the Comanche was initially a two-seater scout concept that was (unfortunately) chock-full of Everyone's Favorite Technology that they wanted to see fly (which was a large part of what over-extended and burned down the program). You couldn't pack eight SEALs into it with a sausage grinder and a hydraulic press. It was a very dense-packed machine without much more than wiggle room for doing maintenance. -- t. Someone who worked on the HIDSS system for it.

[@lasskinn474]

Comanche just makes me think of the pc games that were quite fancy for their time. The first one at least.

[@pirx9798]

Novalogic's comanche with its voxel space was way above the competition that flew over rather square looking polygons.

[@rorychivers8769]

Razorworks - one - one - this is ground control - we have incoming enemy ground units at grid - zero - zero - eight - zero - zero - one

[@hondansx1000]

I loved Comanche 3&4 spent hundreds of hours on each

[@WhuDhat]

makes me think of airwolf

[@GermanNightmare1976]

Hear hear!

[@exiletsj2570]

That ferry range is absolutely mental, the pilot would lose his mind and become a nervous wreck after 58 A/A refuels.

[@Russo-Delenda-Est]

I played so much Comanche 4 as a boy, had a joystick and everything, man that was a great game! Dodging SA8's, hunting MD500s, good times... I'll always love this helicopter just because of that. 🙂👍

[@damongraham1398]

Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor did the RAH-66 very well. I loved the idea of a Navy version that could be launched and recovered by submarine.

[@vic5015]

Oh, yeah. I remember it being in that book. I also remember reading another military thriller-type novel that had a LAMPS III Sea Comanche.

[@catalintimofti1117]

Arma 3 did a great job with it as well my favourite heli by far

[@David16878]

@@vic5015 are you thinking of Choosers of the Slain by James H Cobb.

[@damongraham1398]

@@David16878 I liked that trilogy also.

[@hillbilly4895]

how do you know the Navy doesn't have them? Hmmm? On the sub you also don't know about? Hmmm?

[@kimmatzen6504]

The Commanche will live on in the hearts of all that played Jungle Strike.

[@Rorschach1024]

Another trick used to reduce rotor noise was instead of the blades being at even angles, they were slightly asymmetric so that a standing wave could not be set up.

[@bobdobbs69]

The shrouded tail rotor has a bigger effect because the noise is loudest when it interacts turbulently from the prop wash of the main rotor.

[@nicholashylton6857]

The sexiest, most badass helicopter ever built. It's a tragedy that it never saw action.

[@lolmao500]

It would be real useful to wipe out orcs in ukraine

[@CSSuser]

Yes a real tragedy it never got to kill people...

[@cedriceric9730]

@@CSSuser Thats a real tragedy

[@dreamhunter2973]

It was like 2 decades ahead of its time...... Just like the B-2, F 22 , YF 23, Seawolf Submarine, and now The Zumwalt and the F 35.... LITERALLY EVERY TIME US MADE A COOL NEXT GENERATION TECH, IT WAS JUST TOO GOOD THAT THERE WAS NO ENEMY THAN CAN STAND AGAINST IT, AND HENCE THERE WAS NO ACTUAL NEED....

[@paulceglinski3087]

The price of being a superpower, I reckon.

[@dreamhunter2973]

@@paulceglinski3087 Hmm, One can put it that way too, I guess....

[@paulceglinski3087]

@@dreamhunter2973 Ya know, it also works the other way too. Breaking the bank, as it were. LoL. Cheers.

[@bobdobbs69]

That's why a F-117A was shot down over Bosnia? C'mon, man! YF-23 was never even produced. Also, stealth does not mean INVISIBLE TO RADAR, it just means that pilots have bigger gaps to fly through in EAD. Additionally, the Zumwalt is a sick joke! It can barely handle Sea State 6!

[@dreamhunter2973]

@@bobdobbs69 I didn't say that Stealth is invincible..... Did I? F 117A was shot down by the Yugoslavians due to pure luck... If you don't believe me then Google it, the Weapons system commander, who operated the SAM battery that shot down the F 117 even said that..... They happed to on their Radar at the exact moment the F117 opened its weapons bay(at which time the RCS is like Ten times larger, for stealth jets).... And yes, the Zumwalt is a failure... But that's because they tried to cram in a lot of stuff into it... But the hull design is so revolutionary..... And I think that Zumwalts might get a new lease of life as Hypersonic missile carriers......

[@chrisgreener5599]

Im digging these “almost made the cut” aviation development episodes. Definitely keep it up! The more obscure the better - bell airacuda, yb-40, xr-11, cb42…

[@stephenscallion38]

Interesting thing is that Sikorsky - company that created Comanche have recently developed "Raider X" helicopter that looks nothing like a Comanche, but their competitors in the FARA program - Bell company, have recently developed "360 Invictus" helicopter that looks very similar to RAH-66 Comanche.

[@lodrezzon]

And... similarly, both have been cancelled. After the Comanche's cancellation , those hurt.

[@davidcope3304]

I remember seeing it fly one night when I was stationed at Fort Hood. It was the weirdest sounding heli I have ever heard

[@nicholashylton6857]

How so? Eerily silent or just didn't have the distinctive deep buzz/roar one normally associates with a helicopter?

[@davidcope3304]

@@nicholashylton6857 Normally when you hear one you can pick out kind of the direction it is and the direction it's moving. The 66 sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere. Kind of sounded like a little bird but with a really deep bass sound

[@FiveTwoSevenTHR]

The AH-56 and RAH-66 helicopters are my two favorites. Shame that both never saw production.

[@Gregnier]

I owe my career to this little helicopter. I was hired to support the RAH-66 program at Sikorsky in '96.

[@jhorn64]

I used to play comanche 2.0 as a kid on my dads home office PC in the mid 90s and thought this was the coolest helicopter in existence and was very disappointed when I found out the project had been canned

[@nicholashylton6857]

Same here.

[@tonikaihola5408]

Same

[@mvam75]

Saaaame. Fun game.

[@adammckee3496]

My wife's father was a design director of flight controls on this helicopter. Such a sad day when they cancelled it.

[@chaosworkshop333]

Please do a video about wankel rotary engines! I think redesigning what we think of an engine is quite the megaproject especially because they are slowly dying out due to lack of development. I am a huge enthusiast of these unique pistonless engines!

[@HalenAllison]

I lived about 200 yards away from where then-President Bush held a campaign rally in Erie, PA in 2004. The Secret Service and local police blocked off most of the streets, so I went outside just to have a look at what was happening. It was then that I saw an RAH-66 Comanche hovering just above tree level. I've been around helicopters quite a bit during my time in the military. They're usually pretty noticeable. I couldn't even hear this thing's rotors. I rushed inside to get my camera, but by the time I returned it had departed, presumably to somewhere else over the rally site. I'd never seen one in the wild before.

[@nacho71ar]

The thing about these projects, even if they don't get adopted, most technologies developed I imagine are recycled and reused for other endevours. Can't help think how many things in the Comanche might've ended up in Boeing's drones and others.

[@randytaylor1258]

You're assuming the defence contractors share such information. The bane of helicopter design have always been: ● fuel economy ● top speed ● noise

[@TheBooban]

It’s always been like that. The first project like the B-2 bomber gets cut then they create a new project for the exact same thing but call it the B-21 but now it’s cheap, because all the R&D was saddled onto the B-2.

[@Vin496]

At the Long Beach Airport, there was one parked in the "abandoned" aircraft part of the tarmac and was visible off the 405 freeway for many years, it may still be there, I just haven't looked for it in years.

[@dreamhunter2973]

14:49 Simon: The Aircraft was expected to wear so many hats.... F 35: Ok, I'm gonna go and have a heart attack.....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@NDAGR-]

I requested this years ago. Thanks for getting to it. This is my fav helicopter.

[@sharvin2304]

Please make a video on Brahmos missile or ISRO

[@TheBattleRabbit860]

I find it hilarious that one of the newer helicopters that are being designed to possibly replace the ones currently in use with the Army look a lot like the Comanche.

[@cheutho]

Was it an offering from Boeing? It's not like they just threw away all the work they did.

[@TheBattleRabbit860]

@@cheutho That is not something that I am aware of but does warrant further investigation.

[@valjoker7]

Its a bell offering and there are many at sikorsky that dont find this blatent ripoff funny in the least bit.

[@TheBattleRabbit860]

@@valjoker7 I wouldn't either. Shit, I actually don't, Sikorsky has a facility not too far from me that builds helicopters. The first CH-53K came off the line in my state. At least I think it was the first.

[@tonikaihola5408]

There was a nice PC game based on this aircraft. Voxel graphics at the time were great 👍

[@TheBarracuda]

You aren't kidding. 12 year old me loved watching the demo at the video game store. I think that by the third time I went my parents bought it for me. You could fly AROUND the terrain! Also, the packaging looked amazing for its day! check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJqZZXuCadiMaJY

[@Agent-Strawman]

I remember playing a Comanche game on Super Nintendo called Jungle Strike. I think I made it past the first level twice...

[@UchihaSasuke02]

was wondering if anyone else remembered the Comanche series, I loved 4. still remember the says I spent trying to get my Logitek stick to work properly but it was worth it.

[@paddington1670]

@@Agent-Strawman Jungle strike is literally the best game ever. Also I made it past the first level like twice. I also have Urban Strike and Desert Strike for Sega. Lichrally best games evar

[@Slizzo82]

Good old Novalogic. I put tons of hours into their Delta Force 1 and 2 games.

[@EdgewiseSJ]

Like so many military projects, too many people wanted too many things from this small 'simple' recon program, causing the price tag to go well above what you'd want for an aircraft likely to take heavy losses. It was very cool and it is a little sad that it never became an active part of the military, but even at the time of it's development, the army was already working on filling this aspect of recon with much smaller and cheaper drones. No matter how sneaky you make a high-tech helicopter, a drone that costs a tiny fraction of the price and therefor is available in much larger numbers with the ability to be sacrificed in a way you would never do with a manned super expensive aircraft is just a better tool for the job.

[@Mako-sz4qr]

Man I use to play Comanche Gold by Novalogic back in the early 90’s some of the best days in my life and I’m an old fellah. I was disturbed when they shit canned the Comanche and I always thought that it became a secret helo for the special forces. I was fun to fly as a gaming aspect. Please bring the Comanche back !

[@Airman..]

Had the pleasure of studying it's structural components, very advanced materials, way ahead of its time, and decades away from adversaries technology

[@greatwhiteevox1008]

@megaprojects This is one I'll never forget. I was playing Monopoly one evening, with the daughter of the man who canceled this program. He came down the stairs and said, the Comanche was awesome, but I had to cancel it... see you guys in the morning this will be kind of big news soon. Long Live the Longbow Apache... his daughter was very hot, and later also became a US Army Helicopter Pilot I'm still not good enough for her to date...

[@hebrewhooligan5462]

When I was in AIT at Ft. Rucker AL I got to fly in 1 of the 2 Comanche simulators. The guy kinda got pissed when he figured out I wasn't a pilot after I crashed in about 30sec.

[@BELCAN57]

Back in the eighties I worked at a United Technologies facility. We had a full scale mock up in one of our factory floors. It was very impressive and had a sign that touted "The Fighting Spirit of the Comanche Warrior" I always wondered what happened to that helicopter.

[@rawx485]

I was an Apache mechanic and remember them telling us this will make the Apache obsolete. Couple years later just kind of stopped hearing about it.

[@wedgie502]

I went through 67R10 school at Eustis in 95 and the Commanche was all the rage. But when I heard about its limited range, speed (with full external stores and raydome), and power deficit, not to mention its 20mm cannon was fixed (or extremely limited movement) unlike the Apache's 30mm turret I knew that it was not going anywhere.

[@user-lo1bs4wp7j]

Simon's beard game is on point. I need.

[@Insulus]

as someone who used to live under a major air-traffic route for these helicopters, i can vouch for the Comanche's quietness. if a Chinook was a cannon ball, the Huey was a 7.62x51 and the Apache was an 7.62x39, then the Comanche was a 5.56x45 with a suppressor.

[@BionicBurke]

Growing up, this was the coolest thing in the skies in my eyes. I was heart broken when it was cancelled. As a side note: It's kinda crazy to think that when we reduce the order, we end up spending damn near the original order amount anyway... we could have all the F-22s and still have a burned hole in our pockets.. but we'd have a bunch of F-22s. Not only that but we'd have the infrastructure to upgrade them cheap and not have to do this whole NGAD project.

[@LTR1420]

My dad was heavily involved in working on these things. I saw them fly when I was a kid. My dad and everyone that worked on it were devastated/pissed when they literally scrapped everything. Obviously they've repurposed a lot of the stealth, but the actual platform is gone.

[@TheTeflonTranny]

From the first time I heard about this chopper 30 years ago, I loved the idea of it..So sad it never went anywhere..

[@jasonspeeds1]

I worked on the program in the mid nineties from the Army side. Even then, I thought it was obvious that the program would never go into full production. It was the wrong aircraft, with many issues that made it impractical to field with the capabilities, maintainability and numbers needed. The final cancellation was a good day for Army Aviation. though we still haven't seemed to learn from our mistakes, as now we don't even have the Kiowa Warrior.

[@N1ghtF1re]

When I was at Ft Lewis, they brought a prototype Comanche to our unit for a shakedown. Our pilots were excited to get them.

[@robertbanks5762]

The stealth craft with sound suppression is no joke. I was at the Oregon coast next to an army base. There is an access road to a beach. I was in a Plymouth Sunfire and there was no safe place to park without risking getting the car stuck, so I flipped it around to leave. Suddenly all sounds were suppressed and the air became more dense. I looked around and saw just above the trees an Army helicopter. I had to tell for my girlfriend to even hear me, but it was because of the compressed air not carrying sound.

[@Crimethoughtfull]

I read something about this machine probably 20 years ago...and I don't know if I didn't fully understand what I was reading or if something was misleading, but I thought it was a NEW helo! Every few years I'd remember about it and wonder when it was going to come out. Learning that it came out and died 15 years before I ever read about it almost makes it more amazing, b/c back in the early 2000s it still seemed like a futuristic machine!

[@iceilator]

Brings back Comanche Gold memories 🥲

[@THF117]

My former produce manager had a Comanche hat and when I asked him about it he spoke glowingly about the aircraft, it's always sad to see the project never went into production

[@seamusderby169]

I remember being a little kid seeing these flying around Florida when I was visiting family one of my cousins was a consultant for Lockheed

[@jeremiahricks9191]

Can you so a video on the MH-6 Little bird? Honestly one of my favorite helicopters next to the Comanche

[@believeinmatter]

Had a Huey fly over my neighborhood a few days ago, made me genuinely happy to see

[@randytaylor1258]

And it was genuinely loud.

[@Shadow__133]

Blast Fortunate Son next time for more ambiance immersion. 😂

[@Bromopar]

These bad boys were the darlings of the video game community back in the early 90s. Jungle Strike, LHX Attack Copter, Commanche vs Hokum, etc. It was hard to find a military video game that DIDN'T have one of these choppers in it in some way. Oh, high the mighty have fallen...

[@AyoubusMagnus]

"I ll build anywhere" , " Preserving freedom" Only the true warriors will understand

[@mnorth1351]

It's funny that back in the day, with similar stealthy prototypes like the SR-71 or F-117, this would have been totally a top secret black project until long after they were in production. Whereas the Comanche was so well-known, even while in development, that generations of kids knew all about it from video games, but it was never even completed.

[@absolutmauser]

We had video games based on the F117 before it was publicly revealed too.

[@bigballzmcdrawz2921]

Jungle Strike for Sega Genesis was my 1st introduction to the RAH-66 Commanche.

[@absolutmauser]

@@bigballzmcdrawz2921 That game was so good.

[@jacobfoster9185]

This breaks my Marine Corps heart ! This was a truly AMAZING weapon.

[@thomascoker7703]

I actually had the second commanche prototype sitting in front of our office at Redstone Arsenal in 2006. It sat there for 2 years and a pic opportunity for all the incoming candidates for EOD Training Phase 1.

[@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24]

Popter copter 9000 ultra turbo

[@TheCrimsonLupus]

Great video, sorry to be a stickler: the Commanche actually used a Fenestron tail, not ducted fan - ducted fan was used by a competing model of LHX. I really wish this had gone into production, it was such a great bird.

[@TheRedMartian]

I love this Helicopter, it’s a shame it wasn’t adopted.

[@liferlanceadventures1465]

GWOT killed it. We didn't "need" a 4/5th gen helo anymore. Now we're kicking ourselves over it

[@wayneyd2]

RAH-66 was a disaster from the start.

[@NDAGR-]

Me too. I remember speeding it in that Incredible Hulk movie. The best scene.

[@georgedavey1339]

Likely the most aesthetically beautiful heli ever to be designed. Atleast in my opinion

[@gaim44]

@@liferlanceadventures1465 Why so we can use it to lose another war and put this country deeper in debt.

[@50shadesofyeh]

As an Apache Mechanic, I’m a little biased but this would have been awesome to see

[@wayneyd2]

It was a good idea for the LHX, but RAH-66 was a disaster from the start.

[@watcherzero5256]

Probably would have been worth mentioning the similar Eurocopter Tiger program begun around the same time that did successfully produce a stealth light attack/recon helicopter entering service in 2003.

[@Eric_D_6]

It was also a fun video game series back in the day. I played a lot of Comanche 4 around the early '00s, although I was a kid who rarely got any new games at the time, so maybe that colored my view of it somewhat.

[@Reaper_03-01]

Comanche 4 is still up on Steam, if you ever get bitten by nostalgia. It is nowhere as good as Comanche 3 was, but getting that to work on a Modern OS if difficult.

[@vipe650r]

That was the game that got me to get a joystick growing up. Such a cool helicopter.

[@dinsdalemontypiranha4349]

I really enjoyed this one (no surprise there). What was a surprise was that my favorite part of the video was at the end where you talked about the good things that came from the program that are used today.

[@MachineGunKyle]

Actually played and done a video on the Comanche game, love this heli, best there was, like the yf-23 that never was

[@rubiconnn]

It still lives on in Arma 3 as the AH-99 Blackfoot.

[@cmkmusicislife1571]

I loved playing Comanche 4 on pc back in the day!

[@randytaylor1258]

And on other sites the game-playing fanbiys are busy keeping the myth of F-24 Tomcat invincibility alive. It's a game.

[@martind349]

A master of the universe has the prenup in his arsenal, he senses the perfections of cold wars, his heart is never heavily laden, he values combined arms.

[@richardhowells5804]

I had a PC game in the windows 95/98 days named after and staring this Stealthy beast. It was so good and so cool. Love the look of it, beautiful.

[@southwestxnorthwest]

The F-117 development actually started in the late 1970s, long before the Commanche program so I'd say the technology was adopted from the F-117 and applied to the Commanche. The F-117 was also retired in 2008, but the same technology would have been applied to the F-22 Raptor and F-35 JSF.

[@jackkoffin1]

In my opinion, the RAH-66 is probably the coolest-looking helicopter that has ever existed. Nothing even comes close, honestly. It's a bummer that it never entered final production.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Totally agree.

[@TwilightxKnight13]

The Apache might have created my love for rotorcraft, but the Blackhawk is my all time favorite

[@avshutsach]

My first introduction that I remember of this chopper was from the old American Chopper TV show where they built a custom chopper style motorcycle that resembled the helicopter.

[@blair-alternaterealitiesst4295]

Great vid again man. And as a former military person, I can truly say that was typical military specs - 750 rounds per second ability, 500 round capacity. 🤣

[@WasabiSniffer]

Part of me hopes Bell’s Invictus will be the Comanche we never got. Such a cool design. On helos, quite a few competing prototypes these days

[@DaweSMF]

I flew countless hours in this machine, destroyed many tacticals, tanks and other military equipment. Good times, our unit was Jungle Strike. Did the same with Apache in Desert Strike. But be merciful, memory of old veteran is not the best anymore.

[@keithpennock]

Do a Mega-Projects on the Lockheed Cheyenne, a truly revolutionary helicopter that was also sadly cancelled but whose targeting & avionics systems lived on in the Apache. Also it is of-note that the Cheyenne developed rigid rotors, gyro-stabilized automated blade pitch controls & pioneered the use of compound rotors that we are just now coming back to in order to address speed & range issues but they did this in the 1960s. Program drift, changing the goal-posts post-contract issuing is a problem of DOD management. The number of tried & failed helicopter upgrades over the last almost 60 years is damning. All cutting-edge aircraft programs have teething issues. The F-111 did as did the Tomcat so did the other platforms but what I often wonder is how many could be resolved early & more cheaply by definite & frozen requirements early on (I.e. known weapons payload for example) and more thorough testing . When I think where the U.S. could be if we had persisted in scaled down development with the Cheyenne it seems like a real loss, especially since the issues were eventually ironed out just on other platforms.

[@unclemeow9998]

“Comanche here” “Moving to new AO” “Gunship reporting in” You have been defeated

[@nbookie]

The best man at my wedding was one of the last to pilot this bird.

[@DavidDavis311]

I wondered what happened to the Comanche. The only time I had heard of or seen it was on an episode of American Choppers in the early 2000’s where they made a motorcycle to resemble this aircraft. The Comanche was displayed and flown during the show.

[@pirx9798]

Attack helos will make way for drones, at least in contested airspace. Cheaper to operate, much longer endurance, no pilot at risk. Sure, theyll keep their niche in less dangerous environments, but overall, it's not that bad that the US could invest in drones instead of paying for hundreds of Comanches until they get smacked somewhere like the Ka-52.

[@bobthompson4319]

I was sitting on a hill not far from where the national guards version of the night stalkers fly out from and suddenly a helicopter was less than 100 yards from me as it went up over the hill I was on it was flying so low it had to pull up to miss me and my car in probably 10 seconds it was gone and you couldn't hear it at all. Crazy

[@joshuaradick5679]

Every time you bring up Robert McNamara it reminds me of the debacle he caused with the M-16, and how that would make a great video.

[@paulceglinski3087]

Most definitely. No forward assist, wrong kind of propellent, non-chromed receiver and then, criminally, tell the troops that it was "low" maintenance. Cheers.

[@paulceglinski3087]

@@baronvonslambert I don't know, but the thing cleared my weapon when I needed it at the most important moment. Unfortunately, the casing was "F"ed up and lodged in the breach. Tossed it, but got somebody else's trouble. I soon retrieved my weapon and a few taps with a cleaning rod and lots of Breakfree. No worries after that, but I'm glad it was there. Umm, it was an ACOG model, not the M-16a1 which was standard issue at the time, but other than barrel length everything else was the same as the standard. Shorter range, but most grunt work takes place fairly close and 200m range is more than enough. Plus that short barrel and the SS109(?) round under 50m really messed up a living target. Cheers.

[@paulceglinski3087]

@@baronvonslambert More than likely, but at the time I was kinda using muscle memory. That's why you train every day. Damn near 24/7. So, when it gets real you don't think, you react with what you've been taught. Works too. At least, I'm still alive and I can't say the same for the targets I serviced. LoL. Yeah, things get real weird when you get incoming. You just act on your training and the first part was use the forward assist. If I would have had more time than a few seconds, I would have let the armorer do his thing. But, I was taking fire and cleared the jam, hit my target then worried about the weapon. From start to finish it was only 10 seconds, possibly less. Just practical field experience is all. The range is not the same thing as the field. Can't really do all the range stuff because it's kinda quick or the dead thing. Either you're quick or you're dead. Cheers.

[@paulceglinski3087]

@@baronvonslambert There's also in '89 I used the ACOG that was a2 version. Three shot instead of full auto. Never had a problem with that one at any time. Whether on the range or in the field. Matter of fact, most of the ranges were real close in Panama. Lots of built up stuff. The 3 shot selection worked really well when clearing a building, after tossing a grenade naturally. My trouble was my mag size. 30 rounders loaded with 25 or so was good for town, but for point shot targets they were cumbersome. 20 rounders were best, I mean really, carrying 2 different kinds of magazine. Just used the 20's.

[@mikeaninger7388]

My nomination for the Dopest looking rotorcraft to have ever existed.

[@LBPhotoworks]

I used to love the Comanche as a kid/teen. Always loved helicopters but this one stuck in my mind with its internal missile bays, the futuristic stealth looks, the Fenestron rotor...a beautiful machine. So sad it never went beyond the prototype stage.

[@valjoker7]

Unfortunately the internal missile bays was one of the things that killed it. There was an upgrade to the hellfire missile the army was adopting that lengthened the missile by a few inches. A few inches too big for the bays. I would have requred a minor redesign of the fuselage.

[@AARONANKRUM]

First error: UH-1s where never recon helicopters. You got the OH-6 right. The other, though now now defunct, was the OH-58 Kiowa. Second error: Hellfire are tank killers not just lightly armored vehicles. Later, it could have doubled its load using the Brimstone ATGM.

[@murdoch9106]

I'm mega excited for the Raider S97 and the Defiant X, I know the Defiant has hit 247 kts already and Sikorsky president was quoted saying it will do 280+ kts... Would likely be the first helicopters ever to hit speeds that would require them to stay above 10000 ft unless they get special permission. That said, I doubt they will cruise at 250+ kts, but 200+ would still be a huge feat.

[@LDrumsOhio]

I saw one of these flying on South Fort Hood at Operational Test Command. It looked amazing and was so sleek compared to the Blackhawks.

[@danieljob3184]

Another example of trying to pack too much into a small box. The child in me is heartbroken by the cancellation while the engineer in me just sees a huge pile of Benjamins on fire. Revell (scale model manufacturer) is going to make all the money from this project!

[@thecellulontriptometer4166]

In retrospect, though as stated here many of the technological advances helped in the development of the other helicopters, the role of a manned reconnaissance helicopter has been replaced by unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs). Put simply, it is no longer necessary to risk a pilot for a mission that is easily done without one.

[@bobdobbs69]

You are why flight video games suck these days! LOL!

[@peartree8338]

Jungle Strike on Sega Mega Drive! Weird how I've never wondered what happened to the second coolest helicopter of my childhood. 😊

[@arcturionblade1077]

The effectiveness of MANPADS in the Afghanistan-Soviet war and now in Ukraine makes me wonder if such helicopters have much of a future in modern warfare. Still, love the design and potential of the Comanche, and bummed that it never got greenlit for mass production.

[@jasonspeeds1]

It depends on the type of warfare. Even RPGs in Afghanistan were lethal to helicopters.

[@BAD_HOBO]

Even after its nerf this thing still gets me to the top of the leader boards with ease. If you can get this heli in bf2042 get it.

[@crimcrusader8459]

No mention about the Bell 360 invictus? It's overall outward appearance bears a resemblence to the Comanche.

[@882952]

Simon, just a quick thank you for all your great videos!! You're one of my favorite places to be on KZbin.