Industry and government speakers at the American Helicopter Society's 63rd Annual Forum and Technology Display repeated two common themes: wartime needs have pushed the US rotorcraft production into high-gear, but industry and government still lack a new rotorcraft technology focus to replace the cancelled Comanche. Though models of the innovative Sikorsky X2, Bell/Urban X-Hawk, and Boeing A160T decorated the exhibit floor, the biggest Virginia Beach showpiece was a mockup of the HH-47, Boeing's eminently off-the-shelf Chinook chosen by the Air Force to fill combat rescue requirements. Across the US military services, new technology is making familiar Chinooks, Seahawks, and Cobras more capable. Yet when NASA associate administrator for aeronautics Dr. Lisa Porter outlined the space agency's subsonic rotary wing technology initiative, she stressed mastery - a continuing dedication to technical excellence and truth. Dr. Porter told the AHS audience, "We're not going to continue to do things we already know how to do because we can't claim mastery if that's all we do."
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