May 18 Meeting Will Address Program's Future
It's not the final say on the matter, but a Congressional
committee's recommendation to terminate Bell Helicopter's armed
reconnaissance helicopter contract may be the beginning of the
end for the troubled program.
According to the Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, the House Armed
Services Committee adopted language that would cut $470 million for
Bell's ARH-70A helo from the 2008 defense budget. Moreover, the
proposal also calls for $58 million in upgrades for existing OH-58D
Kiowa Warrior helicopters, which the ARH is supposed to
replace.
The decision -- just one step in the budget process -- comes
just over one week before Army officials are to meet with
representatives with Bell, on ways to speed up development and cut
costs on the ARH-70A, a modified variant of Bell's 407 civilian
helicopter. Original plans called for the Army to buy 512 of the
helicopters, in a deal worth more than $3 billion.
Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie, chairman of the Air and
Land subcommittee, proposed the funding cut -- citing the fact the
program has slipped more than a year behind schedule, while the
"projected cost of the aircraft has doubled from $5.2 million to
well over $10 million per aircraft."
As Aero-News reported, a
prototype ARH-70A crashed on a north Texas golf course in February
following apparent engine failure.
Abercrombie says the Army asked Bell in March to show reasons
why the ARH-70A program shouldn't be terminated. Claude Bolton,
assistant secretary of the Army, wanted to cancel Bell's contract
then, following a meeting with Bell representatives, according to
the newspaper.
He agreed to postpone that decision and hold another meeting in
May, however, after members of the Texas congressional delegation
appealed to Acting Army Secretary Pete Geren. That meeting is
scheduled for the 18th of this month.
For now, the Army has ordered Bell to halt all work on the
program, while the company prepares a plan to cut costs. In an
release to ANN Thursday, Bell Helicopter CEO Dick Millman said the
ARH Program continues to accomplish critical events during the
System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase.
"We recently completed two significant events in support of a
Milestone C (Low Rate Initial Production) decision," Millman said.
"These are critical paths to the successful fielding of the
ARH-70A. The Bell and Army Teams have worked closely over the life
of the ARH Program to bring it to this point. Overall the aircraft
is performing well and receiving many positive comments from the
Army/Bell test pilot team."
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.02.24)
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