STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
Modernisation priorities to be revealed ahead of defence budget talks as service faces $1.6 billion Iraq bill
The US Army's aviation branch is to unveil a 95-point overhaul of its modernisation priorities and organisation ahead of Department of Defense-wide talks set to begin in mid-April on the next five-year spending plan.
In addition to forging a modular unit structure, the process could also determine long-range spending plans for major programmes, including Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche procurement and Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow upgrades, both of which are facing key decisions in the forthcoming five-year budget cycle.
Although an early target of the Aviation Task Force, which was established last September by newly appointed chief of staff Gen Peter Schoomaker, the Comanche now appears to have survived and gained a crucial supporter in Lt Gen Richard Cody, deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, who piloted one of two prototype aircraft last month.
"It's the best aircraft we've ever built," says Cody, addressing the Association of the United States Army Aviation Symposium and Exhibition on 7 November. "You can take that aircraft down the runway and do 360° pedal turns at 80kt [148km/h] and it doesn't care. You can do all kinds of weird things with it, in terms of negative- and positive-g manoeuvres; it doesn't care."
The deep-strike mission of the Apache Longbow, which is facing an initial funding decision for the Block 3 upgrade programme, is likely to be preserved in the army's proposal, despite mixed results during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The task force concluded that the helicopter's deep-strike role should not be abandoned, although it is being de-emphasised during peacetime training flights in favour of providing close support for ground troops.
Meanwhile, army planners face a bill of at least $1.6 billion and the challenge of restoring 600-plus aircraft to operational health on their return from Afghanistan and Iraq this year. This work must be complete by December, as many of the aircraft will return to Iraq a few months later for a third planned rotation cycle, says Cody.
Operations in Iraq have also caused army leaders to regret delaying the introduction of fly-by-wire flight controls, says Cody, and this capability could now be reinserted into the Sikorsky UH-60M remanufacturing programme. More than half of the army's aircraft losses in Iraq have been linked to brown-out conditions on landing.
The army has suffered two fatal helicopter accidents in Iraq so far this year, both near Fallujah. An OH-58Kiowa observation helicopter was shot down on 2 January, killing one crew member. Nine US personnel were killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk crashed on 8 January. US Central Command is investigating the incident.
Source: Flight International
