Armed Aerial Scout

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Armed Aerial Scout ( AAS ) was a US Army program to develop a replacement for the Bell OH-58 Kiowa light reconnaissance and attack helicopter . The program ended in late 2013 with no results.

history

The Armed Aerial Scout program replaced the previous Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program in which the Bell ARH-70 Arapaho emerged as the winner. However, the program was terminated on October 17, 2008 due to cost overruns.

Following an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) 2010/2011, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was planned to be published for 2014. Up to 368 helicopters were to be purchased, priced at $ 13 million to $ 15 million each. In October 2011 the Army announced a voluntary flight demonstration / request for information (VFD / RFI) plan for the AAS project. The US Army had until December 2012 to decide whether to proceed with the program. On November 29, 2012, it was decided to proceed with the Armed Aerial Scout program to purchase a new Scout helicopter. On January 8, 2013, the Army began revising the presentation for the Army Vice Chief of Staff before the competition continued. The Army concluded that their choice of the AAS program would result in either new development effort or a service life-extension program (SLEP) for the OH-58F Kiowa.

The assessments of the commercially available helicopters were made in 2012 on the basis of voluntary flight demonstrations. The five candidates included the Bell OH-58F Block II , Boeing AH-6i , AAS-72X / X + , MD Helicopters MD 540F , AgustaWestland AW139M (demonstration helicopter ), and AgustaWestland AW169 AAS (target design). Sikorsky offered the S-97 Raider , but at the time no prototype was available for demonstration (first flight not until 2015). Boeing had tried to remove MD Helicopters from the program because the MD 540F had the same aircraft design as the Boeing AH-6. In July 2013, MD Helicopters was allowed to further advertise its offer in the program. Evaluations by the Army showed that none of the current helicopters met the requirements. In October 2013, the Army announced that the AAS program may be delayed or canceled due to budget cuts.

The Armed Aerial Scout program ended in late 2013 with no alternative scout helicopter selected for procurement. The expected cost of $ 16 billion for a new armed scout helicopter fleet was deemed too high.

It was decided that the AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter and the AAI RQ-7 drone would take over the tasks of the scouting role, possibly also the UH-72 Lakota . The AAS requirements for a scout helicopter with increased speed, range, payload and the ability to fly at 95 ° F (35 ° C) and 6000 ft (1,800 m) (high and hot) remain in place.

In 2018, the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Program (FARA) was launched to develop an armed light reconnaissance helicopter. This development is part of the Future Vertical Lift program for the development of a new helicopter family.

candidate

Helicopters considered:

AAS-72X
Bell OH-58F Block II
  • Upgrade of the current Kiowa Warrior.
Boeing AH-6S
AgustaWestland AW109
  • Light multipurpose helicopter
S-97 Raider
  • The mock-up of an X2 variant, unveiled in May 2009, was later referred to as the S-97.

The design consists of a coaxial main rotor and a pusher propeller attached to the stern .

OH-58D / AVX
  • AVX modified the current OH-58D design to meet AAS requirements. The design uses the Kiowa hull and adds a coaxial main rotor and two smaller jacketed pusher propellers .

2012 contender

Candidates for the temporary replacement who were to hold a flight demonstration in spring 2012.

The candidates in June 2012 were:

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) paper . US Army, March 22, 2010
  2. ↑ Tony Skinner: AUSA 10: Sikorsky unveils the 'Raider' X2 . Shephard Group Limited .. October 25, 2010. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ Armed Aerial Scout Program . globalsecurity.org.
  4. ↑ AUSA: Bell starts OH-58 Block II flight demo . flightglobal.com
  5. ^ "US Army officials said to back new scout helicopter" . Reuters.com, November 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ Lynn Tilton Bests Boeing in Helicopter Arbitration - Justhelicopters.com, July 25, 2013
  7. ↑ Drwiega, Andrew. " Proceed with Caution: JMR Tech Demo Phase 1 " Aviation Today , November 1, 2013. Accessed: October 5, 2014.
  8. ^ Army Considers Killing Ground Combat Vehicle - DoDBuzz.com, October 21, 2013
  9. ^ "Back to the future", helicopter plans of the US Army, Flug Revue, 08/2019 p.58ff
  10. ^ A b Army Debates Divestment of Kiowa Warrior; Replacement Program in Doubt . In: nationaldefensemagazine.org , January 14, 2014. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. 
  11. ↑ Outgoing General: US Army Must Continue To Fund Research and Development - Defensenews.com, January 14, 2014
  12. ↑ Armed Aerial Scout 72X - Press Release
  13. ^ Trimble, Stephen. " Sikorsky unveils mock-up X2 armed scout ". Flightglobal , May 4, 2009.
  14. ^ Coaxial contenders for US Army armed aerial scout - Australian Aviation
  15. ↑ Brannen, Kate. "Sikorsky Plans To Build Two X2 Helo Prototypes" . Defense News , October 20, 2010.
  16. ↑ Product History OH-58D / AVX . avxaircraft.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010.
  17. ↑ AVX Fact Sheet . Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
  18. ↑ Butler, Amy. "New Army Helo A Tough Choice Amid Belt-Tightening" (subscription article). Aviation Week & Space Technology , January 23, 2012.
  19. ^ Army begins tour of Armed Aerial Scout suitors - Army Times, June 27, 2012
  20. ^ AgustaWestland is In - But is There an AAS Program . In: Aviationweek.com , April 12, 2013. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. 
  21. ^ "MD Uncovers 'Lethal' 540F" . Aviation Today.com
  22. ^ "AgustaWestland demonstrates AW139 for US Army AAS programs" . army-technology.com, 5 July 2012.