IDEX: MD Helicopters bullish over Cayuse Warrior Plus

Suttles describes it as: “The very best helicopter in its class technically, and from a price standpoint and a delivery standpoint.”

Though it looks like an MD530, MD helicopters is trying hard to get away from using that designation for the Cayuse Warrior Plus, which is an all-military helicopter from the ground up, and not a civil helicopter with military equipment ‘bolted on’.

The Cayuse Warrior Plus incorporates major structural modifications to the airframe, which is ‘beefed up’ to withstand the rigours of military operations. This is, after all, a military aircraft that will be firing rockets and machine guns, that will manoeuvre hard, and that might itself be fired upon.

The aircraft has a ballistically tolerant, crashworthy fuel system, new door fairings that allow the doors to be closed when weapons are carried, and a high-capacity landing gear.

The variant has a new weapons management system from Moog (previous Cayuse Warriors, like those supplied to Afghanistan, Lebanon and Kenya, used a Dillon Aero system), and mounts an MX-10D sensor turret.

This opens the door to the use of precision-guided weapons like the advanced precision kill weapons system (APKWS) rocket and Hellfire missiles.

Suttles said this makes the Cayuse Warrior Plus “Lethal, with a qualified precision kill capability.”

Though Suttles is loath to talk about specific competitors, it is clear that the Cayuse Warrior Plus represents a compelling alternative to more expensive scout helicopters – including Boeing’s AH-6i Little Bird, which, ironically, uses an MD Helicopters-supplied airframe. The AH-6i is an FMS-only aircraft, at the far-right hand edge of the international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR) spectrum, whereas the Cayuse Warrior Plus is fully ITAR-approved and compliant.

“We’re not competing in quite the same space,” Suttles said, acknowledging the AH-6i’s six-blade main rotor and higher gross weight, and only grudgingly acknowledging that the Cayuse Warrior Plus “can do everything that they can, at a much lower price point.”

Since MD Helicopters changed owners last year, the company has closed down its former airframe manufacturing facility in Mexico and its helicopters are now 100% US-made in Arizona.

Suttles describes a company that has ‘start-up levels of energy and resourcing’, with a bright future ahead.