Led A Campaign Against The Army's Comanche Helicopter Project

The Army helicopter pilot-turned-consultant who was recognized as one of the most vocal opponents of the Army's Comanche helicopter project in the 1980s passed away last month in a hospital in Alexandria, VA. Col. Robert L. McDaniel (Ret.) was 88. The listed cause of death was cardiac arrest.

McDaniel was a decorated veteran of three wars, according to an obituary appearing in the Washington Post. He had commanded an aviation battalion during the Vietnam war, and later went to the Pentagon where he was assigned to programs dealing with helicopters and other transport aircraft. After his retirement in 1974, he became a consultant as the Army was developing the Comanche program to replace its fleet of Huey helicopters that were icons of the Vietnam era.

McDaniel said the aircraft was poorly designed, not well suited for combat, and unnecessary for the military. At one point, he said the aircraft was "flawed beyond all recovery," the Post reports. He said that other aircraft under development at the same time, including the Apache, Chinook, and Black Hawk would make the Comanche obsolete before it could be built.

The Comanche remained in development until 2004, despite being called little more than a "high tech science fair project" by the Senate Armed Services Committee in 1992. The Army finally said that its "military imperatives" had shifted, and scrapped the program.

(Comanche Helicopter image provided by the US Army)

FMI: http://www.army-technology.com/projects/comanche/