Bell Helicopter And CCAD Deliver Aircraft To Corpus
Christi
Bell Helicopter, in partnership with Corpus Christi Army Depot
and the Armed Scout Helicopter Project Management Office, delivered
the first OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Wartime Replacement Aircraft to the
United States Army at a special ceremony. The aircraft was the
first of a contracted 19 in the Army’s Wartime Replacement
Aircraft program.
Colonel Michael Morgan accepted the aircraft on behalf of the
1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division of the United
States Army and commended the efforts of the depot and Bell
Helicopter.
“I’m impressed with the initiative which combines
CCAD’s aircraft depot level rebuild and Bell
Helicopter’s full aircraft cabin modernization for OH-58
Kiowa Warriors,” said Col Morgan. “This initiative is
providing cost effective solutions as we begin to navigate the
sobering reality of resource constraints. This is an efficient
solution to provide Kiowa Warriors to our Army.”
The Army’s Kiowa Warrior Wartime Replacement Aircraft
Program is a combined effort between CCAD, Bell Helicopter, and the
Armed Scout Helicopter Project Management Office to return the Army
to its requirement of 368 OH-58 aircraft. Currently, the
Army’s fleet is down more than 40 aircraft from its
authorized acquisition objective. The program takes an existing A
model airframe and converts it to a D model aircraft. Bell has an
additional 18 conversion cabins on contract with the USG with a
second option for 10 – 21 more cabins in work.
Work on each aircraft begins at CCAD, where the aircraft is
stripped down to a bare cabin. Bell Helicopter converts the cabin
from an A model cabin to a D model cabin complete with a full wire
harness, flight controls, and fuel cells. The modified cabin is
returned to CCAD where the final work is completed on the aircraft.
Work on the first cabin was done at Bell Helicopter’s XworX
facility in Ft. Worth, Texas. The second cabin is on schedule for
delivery ahead of contract, out of Bell Helicopter’s Military
Aircraft Assembly and Delivery Center in Amarillo, TX during the
second week in November. The remainder of Bell Helicopter’s
work on the program will be completed at the Amarillo facility.
“We are pleased with the success we have had with our Army
programs,” said Jim Schultz, Program Manager for OH-58D, Bell
Helicopter. “We believe in the commitment we have to the war
fighter and are willing to step up to the challenge to get these
important aircraft back into the fleet.”
As part of the Wartime Replacement Aircraft contract, Bell
Helicopter is working on a contract option to restart a new
production line of cabins. These cabins would provide a hot
production line of new metal cabins in lieu of conversion cabins.
Bell Helicopter built 39 OH-58D new production aircraft in the late
1990’s for Taiwan.
In addition to work on this program, Bell Helicopter recently
completed the last aircraft in the Army’s OH-58D Safety
Enhancement Program, a program that ran for 13 years on or ahead on
contract schedule, and Bell is currently working on the Kiowa
Warrior Cockpit and Sensor Upgrade Program. The successful
execution of all these programs reflects the continued commitment
Bell Helicopter has with the US Army.