Exhelo:

Yes, it is difficult to see how you could sneak in and grab someone on the sly with a HH-47. A trifle obvious. I don’t know if it has the same “feel them before you can hear them” effect as the old UH-1, but it can’t be too quiet.

On the other hand, the MH-53 is not exactly a Bensen Gyrocopter in terms of size, and they do/did a lot of sneaking in those.

It is interesting what they had to say about the requirement to be able to transport in a C-17, offload, and set up quickly. That sounds like a new requirement to me, and it sounds War-On-Terror oriented.

Note also that “rescue” to the USAF is no longer just aircrew retrieval but such choppers are also used for special ops pick-up for any service. That could made it a whole new ball game, much more demanding than the old SAR mission. Thinking out of your own box is a good thing but you may just end up with a much bigger new box.

I think the later issues of Av Week have been pushing the idea that Sikorsky’s new rigid rotor concept looks more promising than either conventional choppers or tilt-wings, but it is still more or less in the “X” vehicle stage.