Boeing Rotorcraft Systems (formerlyBoeing Helicopters and before thatBoeing Vertol) is the former name of an American aircraft manufacturer, now known as Vertical Lift division ofBoeing Defense, Space & Security.

Boeing Rotorcraft Systems

Company type	Public
Industry	Rotorcraftaviation
Founded	1960; 65 years ago (1960) as Boeing Vertol
Headquarters	Ridley Park, Pennsylvania , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Website	www.boeing.com/defense/rotorcraft/

The headquarters and main rotorcraft factory is inRidley Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb ofPhiladelphia. Production ofApache attack helicopters inMesa, Arizona, formerly part of Rotorcraft Systems, is now under the Global Strike Division of Boeing Military Aircraft.

Boeing Helicopters was created asBoeing Vertol when the Vertol Aircraft Corporation (formerlyPiasecki Helicopter) company ofMorton, Pennsylvania was acquired byBoeing in 1960; the Vertol name was an abbreviation forVertical Take Off and Landing. Other names by which the division sometimes referred to itself in correspondence over the years were "Boeing Aircraft Company, Vertol Division" and "Boeing Philadelphia". The company was responsible for the design and production of theCH-46 Sea Knight and theCH-47 Chinook. The name became Boeing Helicopters in 1987, and the current name was adopted in 2002.^[1]

When Boeing merged withMcDonnell Douglas in 1997, the formerHughes Helicopters operations inMesa, Arizona were placed under Boeing Helicopters. A year and a half later Boeing sold the civilian line of helicopters toMD Helicopter Holdings Inc., an indirect subsidiary of the Dutch company,RDM Holding Inc.

By December 2006Columbia Helicopters ofAurora, Oregon had purchased theType certificate of the Boeing Vertol 107-II and Boeing Model 234 Commercial Chinook from Boeing.^[2][3] The Columbia Helicopters is seeking FAA issuance of a Production Certificate to produce parts with eventual issuance of a PC to produce aircraft.

For much of the 1970s, Boeing Vertol entered the railroad rolling stock market in an attempt to keep government-funded contracts in the wake of the Vietnam War. During this period, Boeing Vertol manufactured theMorgantown Personal Rapid Transit system forWest Virginia University, the2400 seriesChicago 'L' cars for theChicago Transit Authority, and theUS Standard Light Rail Vehicle (marketed as theBoeing LRV). It was the last vehicle, an attempt at a standardizedlight rail vehicle promoted by the federalUrban Mass Transportation Administration, that led to the company's ending rail production due to myriad problems. This cost Boeing and the vehicle's two buyers,Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority andSan Francisco Municipal Railway millions and led to premature retirement of the vehicles.^{[4][5][better source needed]}

While the company's subway cars performed better, they did not continue in the railcar business, as competitors may have underbid on a key contract^{[citation needed]} and the post-Vietnam War military build-up provided far more lucrative military contracts.

• AH-6 Little Bird (acquired when Boeing merged withMcDonnell Douglas)
• AH-64 Apache (acquired when Boeing merged withMcDonnell Douglas)
• Boeing Model 234 Commercial Chinook
• Boeing Model 360 (an all-composite, private venture, technology demonstrator)
• Boeing Vertol 107-II
• Boeing Vertol XCH-62 (Model 301)
• Boeing Vertol YUH-61
• Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight
• Boeing CH-47 Chinook
  • Boeing Chinook (UK variants)
• V-22 Osprey (built as a teaming arrangement withBell Helicopter Textron)
• Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche
• Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant
• Boeing MH-139 Grey Wolf

• US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (aka theBoeing LRV)
• Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit
• Boeing Vertol2400-seriesChicago "L" cars

Comparable majorhelicopter manufacturers:

• AgustaWestland
• Airbus Helicopters
• Bell Helicopter
• MD Helicopters
• Russian Helicopters
• Sikorsky Aircraft

Notes

Further reading

• Jonathan M. Feldman (author), Gerald I. Susman and Sean O'Keefe, eds. "Chapter 18, The Defense Industry in the Post-Cold War Era: Corporate Strategy and Public Policy Perspectives",The Conversion of Defense Engineers' Skills: Explaining Success and Failure Through Customer-Based Learning, Teaming and Managerial Integration, pp. 281–318. Oxford: Elsevier Science, 1998: .

• Boeing Military Aircraft's Mobility division, headquartered at Ridley Park, PA