Comanche’s Child: The USA’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (updated)
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The ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) is a program by the United States Army to replace around 375 Bell Textron OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The Army’s initial replacement, the $14.6 billion RAH-66 Comanche program, was canceled in 2004. Instead, the Army would buy a larger number of less expensive platforms, with reduced capabilities.
Bell Helicopter Textron initially won the ARH competition, beating an MD Helicopter/Boeing consortium. As DID has noted re: a similar $500-600 million competition in India, Bell’s ARH-70 is a militarized version of its highly successful 407 single-engine commercial helicopter.
This will serve as DID’s FOCUS Article for the ARH program, providing updated background, details, and contract award information. Bell Helicopter continued to work on the ARH-70 at its own expense, but rising program costs killed the program. The OH-58Ds still need to be replaced, and Eurocopter is already testing an armed variant of the UH-72A that won the Army’s Light Utility Helicopter competition. Even as developments in the Army make it less certain that the next winner will be a helicopter solution…
- The ARH Program: What Happened? [updated]
- ARH: Now What? [updated]
- The ARH Program: Contracts & Events [updated]
- Appendix A: Weary Warriors – The Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Fleet
- Appendix B: Initial Winner – Bell’s ARH-70
- Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources
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