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Originally Posted by cosmicfish
Because you are suggesting scavenging an air force out of the remains of experimental programs without really giving any reason why it would be worth the effort.
I've worked for two different defense contractors and with several more, first on archaic systems and then on research and development. I have seen what goes into these programs, I've seen what happens in the middle, and I've seen what is left at the end. I have never laid hands on these specific aircraft but it would not surprise me if I had laid hands on things that came out of them.
And my point is that what you can buy discretely is only a fraction of what is needed to make them work. Once you have invested millions of dollars in a prototype it is amazing how many uses you can find for the whole or for the parts. So how do you (Morrow) sneak in and grab this stuff without it being noticed? Remembering that there is probably no greater level of scrutiny and oversight than with these kinds of prototype systems?
If it was flyable, then that is one airframe with no logistical support. Why is that better than just buying a couple of perfectly legal hueys?
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I suggest them because provide capabilities that few other aircraft provide. The AH-56A is still the most capable compound helicopter ever built. Even in prototype form it far out performed the AH-64. The XV-15 and the XC-142 have not been equaled until the V-22 became operational. And I will admit I just have a soft spot for the CL-84s.
Even 5 years after the war ends I believe that the ONLY source of spare parts the Project can count on it what it has stored or what it can make on its own. To count on anything else is folly. To my mind (and the minds of my Project's planners) this means that every piece of equipment has to be provided with sufficient spare parts to operate it until an infrastructure can be rebuilt that can produce the needed parts from scratch.
Hueys are wonderful, Chinooks are very capable. That being said the Project will need to lay in the exact same amount of spares for these two craft as they would for stand alone machines because they simply can't count on getting the parts after the war. Any place that has Chinooks is likely to catch a nuke. There are lots of private and non military Huey's but even those might be near nuclear targets. Additionally the parts represent the same high value to the post war survivors in the 5 year scenario as they do for the Project and they will have been claimed early on if that was remotely possible. This also doesn't mention that sitting out in the weather for five years won't do most of this material a whole lot of good and it will need to be inspected and possibly remanufactured before it can be life safety rated for use in manned aircraft.
You don't sneak, you publicly buy. Morrow is a huge defense contractor. Hell maybe they bought LTV's VSTOL division and Lockheed's Helicopter Division and just got everything as part of the deal. It is never stated in canon exactly what companies are part of the huge conglomerate that Bruce owns. For all we know they may have been rolling extra air-frames off the prototype production lines and boxing them up as spares for the development process.
For me it comes down to a couple of things, one is equipment that is very capable (at least on paper) All these aircraft are around before 1989. They are all at least as capable if not more so than front line military equipment available at that time. They provide a "signature" Morrow Project feel that enhances story telling. I have found them to be "fun" items that intrigue players and spark their interest in the gaming universe.