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Well, the Army is determined to retire the OH-58D, and the 407 is an
OH-58D derivative. (Obviously, they're going to do more than move the sensor suite and replace the enigine.) Not knowing just what Bell intends to do with the tail rotor, transmission, etc, the ARH proposal seems like it perpetuates OH-58D shortcomings in performance and crashworthiness rather than taking a different ARH approach. The Mission Enhanced Little Bird for the 160th is already getting the Rockwell CAAS cockpit, which will provide training and supply commonality with what the Army plans for the UH-60M and CH-47F. Bell has said Lockheed Martin will integrate their systems, presumably with a cockpit based on Navy MH-60R/S experience. Given a choice, I think I'd rather have CAAS. I've been corrected elsewhere that the ARH requirement is very different from SOF, requiring longer endurance. I don't know what Boeing intends to do to to add more fuel. (If you use the stretched 600 airframe, do you compromise crashworthiness?) Neither of these aircraft will carry significant armor (RPGs are meant to kill main battle tanks), but I do think the Little Bird is more crashworthy. Again, I don't know exactly what Boeing plans to enhance the AH-6M, but I think it would be a better starting point. It's not the vulnerability of UAVs that makes them questionable, it's the limited field of view from current sensors, and the organization that has to integrate them with ground forces. A human crew brings curiosity, flexibility, and judgement to use weapon on the recon mission. Again, with time, UAVs will provide a useful adjunct to save lives and expand situational awareness, but they're not a replacement for a scout helicopter. HW |
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