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.

FMI: www.army.mil, www.bellhelicopter.com