Army programs start to whir
Redstone officials hope to field new helicopters quickly
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
The Army is developing two aviation programs in Huntsville to replace aging scout and cargo helicopters.
The Advanced Reconnaissance Helicopter, or ARH, and the Light Utility Helicopter, also known as the LUH, programs are managed at Redstone Arsenal with the goal of replacing older helicopters and freeing up newer ones for more active-duty missions.
After the Comanche attack and reconnaissance helicopter program was canceled early last year, the move freed up about $6 billion for the Army to develop the new helicopter programs.
The ARH program awarded a contract to Bell Textron in July for $3 billion to develop and produce 368 single-engine helicopters by 2013.
Bell is modifying its Bell 407 model helicopter for the ARH program. These will replace the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout helicopter, also a modified Bell design.
Because the helicopter is based on a model already in production, Army aviation managers hope to field the new scout helicopter quickly. Plans are to have the first Army aviation unit equipped with 30 aircraft by September 2008.
By using "commercial off-the-shelf technology," said Army Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, ARH program manager in Huntsville, "the Army gets a better-performing aircraft with greater ranger, extended (loiter) times, updated target sensors and armaments."
"The ARH is designed to bring to the fight state-of-the-art technology that's available today," said Thurgood, a CH-47 Chinook pilot.
The new helicopter will have a modular weapons package that allows field commanders to choose which weapons best fit a particular mission, Thurgood said. It will be able to carry Hellfire missiles, unguided rockets and either a .50 caliber or 7.62 millimeter gatling gun on wing pods.
Thurgood said the first modified ARH crew cabin shipped from Canada to Bell's Fort Worth, Texas, plant Thursday for modifications. "It's a small milestone, but it is one of many more to follow," he said.
Since the ARH program began in April 2004, Thurgood said, about 46 people work developing and managing the helicopter in Huntsville. Also, research and development on ARH weapons and sensors goes on in Redstone labs.
The Army also manages the $3 billion LUH program at Redstone, but it is a helicopter that is not intended for war.
The light helicopter is intended to replace aging UH-1 Huey and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters used by the Army in the United States and its territories.
It wouldn't be put into wartime service, said Col. Cory Mahanna, LUH program manager in Huntsville. "It's nondeployable," he said.
This would free up stateside Black Hawks to be used in the war effort and to cut costs, Mahanna said. It costs about $1,900 an hour to fly a Black Hawk, and Mahanna said the LUH by the nature of its contract will be substantially lower than that.
Mahanna said no details about flight or aircraft costs could be released because the contract was still in a bid process.
The Army intends to buy 322 helicopters over the next eight years, with 144 going to National Guard units.
"Hopefully, if it works out, we could take delivery the day we sign the contract," Mahanna said. "That's probably a first in Army aviation."
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