This performance specification establishes requirements for the flying and ground handling qualities of military rotorcraft. It is intended that the specification should cover land-based rotorcraft that have primary missions ranging from scout and attack to utility and cargo. Additional requirements or modified standards may be required for rotorcraft that operate from small ships in sea states resulting in more than small ship motion.

The requirements are intended for application in development of a new system, or for a major system upgrade. If met, they should assure that no limitations on flight safety, or on the capability to perform intended missions, will result from deficiencies in flying qualities. The criteria and MTEs can also be used as a development tool since they provide quantitative benchmarks and calibrated maneuver standards which may be valuable for assessing the need for upgrades, or for diagnosing the cause of deficient performance.

Application of this specification to a specific system requires minimal tailoring. This tailoring basically consists of selecting the appropriate MTEs corresponding to the operational missions, and defining several aspects of the operational environment. All of the topics to be specified in the system specification have been gathered into 3.1. Guidance on tailoring these topics will be provided in a separate handbook.