Includes New Aircraft, Upgrades
Many changes are in store for Army
aviation, beginning with a contract for 368 new Armed
Reconnaissance Helicopters.
"ARH is the next significant step in modernizing and
transforming Army Aviation," said Col. Mark Hayes, TRADOC system
manager for reconnaissance and attack, located at Fort Rucker,
AL.
The $2.2 billion contract with Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. --
awarded July 29 with a signing ceremony Aug. 29 -- calls for
delivery of 38 of the new aircraft by fiscal year 2008, with the
remainder delivered by fiscal year 2013.
"The ARH will have a larger, enhanced engine," said Col. Greg
Gass, deputy director of the Army Aviation Task Force in the
Pentagon.
In addition, an upgraded tail rotor from the Bell 427 provides
greater directional stability and control authority and the
upgraded glass cockpit provides greater accuracy, has better
display ergonomics, and is more user friendly than the current
display, said Gass, comparing it to the current OH-58 Kiowa
helicopter.
The ARH will also incorporate an exhaust infrared suppressor.
"This device suppresses heat from the helicopter so that it is less
detectable by the enemy," Gass said.
"The ARH will replace the current Kiowa Warrior, one for one,"
said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, program manager for ARH, located at
Redstone Arsenal, AL.
"The normal flying hours for the Kiowa is 14 a month, but it is
flying about 70 hours a month per aircraft," said Gass. "That is a
lot of strain on an aircraft. The ARH can sustain the current
flying requirements."
The ARH is one of many initiatives resulting from the
cancellation of the Comanche project in 2004, Gass said, which took
the Army into a new phase of Army Aviation Transformation.
"We wanted to optimize our fleet for the joint fight and reduce
logistics," said Gass. "We are restructuring our maintenance and
sustainability so that it won’t be so burdensome – more
flexible, more deployable, more agile and more modular."
"The decision to restructure Army Aviation through the
termination of Comanche really permitted us to take some of the
investment -– known and tested technologies -– and
integrate them quicker into old and new systems," Gass said.
"Reinvesting the gains we made with the Comanche project helped
reduce the process of acquisition and saved time," said Gass. "We
are at war, and we wanted to make it happen quicker."
"The Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker -– recently
designated the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center of Excellence
-– brings war fighting capabilities to the field by
developing new concepts, programs and training for aviation
Soldiers worldwide," Hayes said.
New concepts and programs are already developed to transform
Army aviation.
"A request for proposals was issued in July 2005 on the Light
Utility Helicopter," said Gass. "The first equipment is expected on
the ground in fiscal year 2007."
The LUH will conduct light general support in permissive
environments and Homeland Defense, and will replace the legacy UH-1
Huey.
"The Future Cargo Aircraft will replace the C-23 Sherpa," said
Gass. "It will provide tremendous capability in getting critical
supplies to forward deployed forces, because it will be able to
land on a very short runway – about 2,000 feet, which is a
better capability than anything else we have out there."
"Comanche money provided us the new buys [aircraft] as well as
allowed us to recapitalize the current fleet," said Gass. "The
Apache, The Chinook, UH-60, all will receive upgrades."
One of the investments is in Aircraft Survivability Equipment.
ASE provides counter measures to aircraft to defeat surface-to-air
missiles and other threats to aircraft, said Gass.
"We are upgrading ASE and outfitting all rotary-wing aircraft
with the common missile warning system – upgraded missile
detection – through an accelerated process because of the
need and desire to get the best equipment to the field," said
Gass.
"Our program is really about trying to use the current existing
state-of-the-art technology and getting it to the war fighter as
quickly as possible," Thurgood said.
"We will restructure and transform into a modular,
capabilities-based, maneuver force, which will provide significant
contributions to the War on Terrorism and the future of Army
aviation," Hayes said.