Thirteen Years Of Upgrades Performed By Bell Helicopter
The U.S. Army Armed Scout Helicopter program office announced
Tuesday that the final Safety Enhancement Program (SEP) OH-58D has
been delivered by Bell Helicopter to the Army as part of the Kiowa
Warrior refresh program. The program spanned 13 years.
"Delivering each of the 292 Kiowa Warriors on time and on budget
is an enormous accomplishment,” said COL Robert Grigsby,
Army’s Armed Scout Helicopter project manager. “This
feat is a true reflection of the Army-Bell Helicopter partnership
that we have in place. The Kiowa Warrior continues to be a combat
multiplier in the Joint Operations Area and SEP was needed to
provide safety enhancements and standardize fleet
configuration."
SEP is part of the Army Scout refreshment program. Under this
program deliveries began in January 1999 and finished the last
aircraft in September 2011. There have been a total of 283
aircraft, with an additional nine trainers completed on the SEP
line.
“Our next task is working with the Army on identifying
future Kiowa Warrior needs," said Jim Schultz, Director for Army
Programs and Fielded Systems at Bell Helicopter. "Bell Helicopter
is currently on contract to build A2D War Replacement Cabins and is
ready to respond to a requirement to build “new metal”
cabins that would further replace wartime losses and reduce overall
fleet age.”
The Kiowa Warrior has accumulated more than 750,000 fleet combat
hours operating primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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