Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
The US Army National Guard (ARNG) is looking to the US Congress for additional funds to acquire more Boeing AH-64D Apache, Boeing CH-47F Chinook and Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to close the yawning gap created by the accelerated retirement of its hand-me-down fleet of Bell UH-1,AH-1 and OH-58 helicopters.
Under the US Army's Aviation Modernisation Plan, the ARNG will phase out its 300 AH-1 Cobras by October next year and 470UH-1s two years after that. The ARNG, which comprises 49% of the army's aviation strength, is facing a shortfall in replacement machines and funding to modernise its remaining helicopters.
According to Alberto Jimenez, ARNG aviation and safety division chief, the guard is short of 83 upgraded AH-64D Apache Longbows and needs 190 UH-60Ms in addition to the 60 already earmarked to complete replacement of the UH-1. The army has funding to modernise only 501 of its 742 Apaches, leaving the ARNG to soldier on with AH-64As.
"We're going to have to develop a strategy to operate units at reduced levels as we transition out of AH-1/UH-1s," says Jimenez. As the guard moves from Vietnam-era helicopters to more modern equipment, additional funding will be needed to upgrade operational infrastructures and for major retraining, he adds.
Similarly, the ARNG is not included in army plans to remanufacture 300 Chinooks to CH-47F standard. The guard fears that unless it can modernise its AH-64s and 131 CH-47Ds, they will prove increasingly costly to support and more difficult to operate alongside the army's improved machines. Commonality of sensors and weapons across army aviation's order of battle will be lost, and the army and ARNG will need separate training and logistics systems.
Longer-term ARNG hopes rest on re-equipping its reconnaissance and light attack units with the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche. With the first production machine not scheduled to enter service before late 2006, the guard is warning it may be forced to continue operating its 280 - and already elderly - OH-58A/Cs for another 12-15 years.
The ARNG plans to make its case shortly to Congress as part of a wider army request for additional funding. The army estimates that to implement the aviation modernisation plan and recapitalise the fleet it needs up to $6 billion by 2013. "We've now got close to half that," says Maj Gen Joseph Bergantz, US Army programme executive officer.
Source: Flight International
