Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) cancelled

I don't know if this has to do with the 2008 election (negotiation of some sort), but the US Army officially scrap the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH).

The ARH was a Kiowa replacement based on the Bell 407 and built in Mirabel, Québec, Canada.

In the meantime, Textron Stock keep dropping and dropping and dropping.

www.star-telegram.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.bellhelicopter.com...



[edit on 16-10-2008 by PopeyeFAFL]

Long live the UCAV. The role of manned systems is slowly but surely decreasing.

reply to post by WestPoint23


do you know a freshman that goes by the name of Russel? He goes to Westpoint. He's a chemistry/ministry major.

Sure long live the UCAV but then why this announcement from Boeing? "WASHINGTON, Oct. 07, 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced a new rotorcraft program, the AH-6 light attack/reconnaissance helicopter." The AH-6 sounds like it would fill the same role still as the Bell 407 variant though i guess it would be slightly smaller.

Not everyone has the technical, infrastructure and monetary capabilities necessary to operate a large UCAV fleet. Armed and manned rotary systems still have a role for those who can't operate anything else for one reason or another.

reply to post by WestPoint23


So the point is that even though the Bell Option has been cancelled this probably wasn't the US defense department that approached them?

www.boeing.com...

"Boeing has been approached by several potential customers seeking light attack and reconnaissance capabilities in a flexible rotorcraft platform," Dave Palm, director of Boeing Rotorcraft Business Development

If it wasn't the DD this still maybe a response to let them know that they can take the orders of sort.

We learn a little more on this today:

Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, the top uniformed officer for acquisition, said:

He said the prime factor driving up Bell's costs had been the cost of labor and materials after the company dropped plans to manufacture the air frame in Canada and fly it to Texas for military outfitting.

So you have it, Bell had a chance to use their Mirabel facility where the labor cost is less, instead they decided to repatriate this work in the USA, and now they loose it completely.

www.reuters.com...

www.flightglobal.com...

The Department of Defense terminated Bell Helicopter's three-year-old contract on 16 October to deliver a military variant of the civil 407 helicopter after development costs roughly tripled and the in-service date was delayed four years to 2013.

costs tripled and delays - the real reason it was cancelled i think

Originally posted by Harlequin
costs tripled and delays - the real reason it was cancelled i think

Semantics. For the Army it is not a must have system, they can funnel the money into other projects and compensate for that capability with other things. One such example may be the MQ-1C aircraft.

Here's the deal with all of these canceled projects: Bush is out of office, Obama will most likely be elected, so the War Party is over. There will be more.

reply to post by PopeyeFAFL

Regarding...
Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, the top uniformed officer for acquisition, said:

He said the prime factor driving up Bell's costs had been the cost of labor and materials after the company dropped plans to manufacture the air frame in Canada and fly it to Texas for military outfitting.

and the comment...
So you have it, Bell had a chance to use their Mirabel facility where the labor cost is less, instead they decided to repatriate this work in the USA, and now they loose it completely.

Bell's plan was always to build green commercial aircraft in Mirabel and fly them to Ft. Worth for military outfitting. But structural changes to meet the Army's flight loads and Mission Equipment Package made it a unique aircraft, not a modified COTS. ITAR prohibitions against introducing militarized changes into a commercial product made it impossible to build outside the US and maintain schedule.