Next Three Months Pivotal For Army's ARH

Defense Daily, Jan 17, 2006 by Michael Sirak

By Michael Sirak

The Army's' goal of fielding its Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) in 2008 will depend largely on the success of the program in the next three months, the service officials overseeing the program said last week.

"We are today about 67 days...from the first flight," said Col. Neil Thurgood, the Army's ARH program manager, last Friday at the Association of the United States Army aviation symposium in Washington, D.C.

Thurgood said this first flight, set for March 22, is a critical milestone that will set off a chain of events that must be completed on time in order for the Army to meet its first-unit equipped (FUE) milestone in September 2008. By then, it wants to have 30 ARHs in a combat squadron and eight helicopters available for training.

"If we can't reach those milestones, then we can't get to FUE," he said.

The ARH is the planned successor to the Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, which has seen extensive action in Iraq. Despite it value, the workhorse Kiowa Warrior has shown the strains of operating at high elevations and in hot climates and many have been lost in combat there; most recently, one was shot down on Jan. 13.

The Army wants to the field 368 ARHs by 2013 and be fully divested of the Kiowa Warrior fleet by 2013, said Col. Mark Hayes, system manager for reconnaissance and attack in the Training and Doctrine Command.

The ARH is based on Bell Helicopter Textron's [TXT] 407 commercial helicopter model. The Army selected Bell's design in July 2005. Bell also built the OH-58s.

Thurgood said a successful first flight in March will pave the way for a limited user test in August. The latter exercise will then make possible a decision on moving into low-rate initial production in March 2007, he said. This, in turn, would enable Bell to deliver the 38 ARHs on time.

Hayes said the Army plans 10 ARH combat squadrons, each with 30 aircraft. There will also be 38 aircraft dedicated to training and 30 used for testing and operational readiness functions.

He said the service expects to decide within the next year which machine gun and forward-looking infrared sensor the ARH will carry.

Maj. Gen. James Pillsbury, commanding general of Army Aviation and Missile Command, said the ARH will be designated the RAH-70. The Army has chosen a name for it, but is not ready to release it, he said.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

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