I saw an article on this last week in the local news paper, and was immediatly impressed with the proposal. They are basicaly going to convert exsisting OH-58D Kiowa Warriors into what they call the "OH-58D AVX".
It will remove the tail boom and replace it with a shorter stub tail and 2 ducted fans to provide forward propulsion.
It will counter the tendancy for the chopper to spin by adding 2 counter rotating blades on top. Simmiler to the KA-50 Kamov Black Shark attack chopper that Russia has had for decades.
Here is a picture of what the original chopper looks like, and what it will look after the conversion is done.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post:47232937-e382-4a39-ae62-8a0574b9b27a
What do you guy's think about this idea? I am a huge Aircraft fan, so these things really intrest me.
