aerospace daily and defense report
Kiowa Replacement Plan Surprises Industry
Oct 13, 2011
By Graham Warwick
Industry says it is ready to respond if the U.S. Army proceeds with plans for flight evaluations, as early as April next year, of potential off-the-shelf replacements for its Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter.
Announcement of plans for a flight demonstration came as a surprise to manufacturers, who were waiting for the Army to release the results of a two-phase analysis of alternatives (AoA) for its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
AgustaWestland, Bell, Boeing and EADS North America say they will field aircraft if the Army proceeds with the demonstration, but contenders Sikorsky and AVX Aircraft will not be in a position to participate as their aircraft are still on the drawing board.
The recently competed AoA, the results of which have not been released, determined a new-start program was required. But in the face of deficit-driven budget pressures, the Army “has taken an appetite suppressant. We cannot afford a new start,” says Maj. Gen. Tim Crosby, Army program executive officer for aviation.
Instead, the Army will look at what is available between an OH-58D service life extension program (SLEP) as the “minimum acceptable” baseline and the full AAS requirement. “What can we do with the scout we have today, or can we field a COTS [commercial off-the-shelf] solution that gets close [to the AAS requirements]?” Crosby asks.
Crosby is seeking $8.7 million in funding from the Army to conduct the demonstration. “That assumes five vendors,” he says. Bell says it will be ready with its Block 2 upgrade of the OH-58D, Boeing will field the AH-6i, EADS North America the AAS-72X, and AgustaWestland says it will participate with either the AW119 or AW109. But AVX and Sikorsky confirm they will not be able to field aircraft.
The planned demonstration will not be a fly-off or a source selection, Crosby cautions. Instead, the results will be used to refine the guidance already provided by the AoA. The goal of the flight demonstration is “to make an informed decision, and not make it solely on PowerPoint presentations,” he says.
“We believe a COTS system can meet a substantial portion of the requirement,” Crosby says. But the question intended to be answered by the demonstration is whether any capability offered above the baseline OH-58D SLEP “is worth the investment when we will have to decrement something else to afford it,” he says.
Crosby describes the demonstration as “come as you are. If you don’t have an aircraft, you don’t get to play.” But industry does not yet know what the Army wants to evaluate. A request for information is expected to be released within a couple of weeks, providing more detail.
None of the available aircraft exactly meets the Army’s requirements, and Sikorsky is hoping it will be given a chance to present flight-test data from the X2 technology demonstrator and simulations of the S-97 Raider, which is scheduled to fly in 2014.
AVX says it is continuing design work on its coaxial-rotor and ducted-fan modification of the OH-58D in the belief that the Army will follow the demonstration with an open competition to replace the Kiowa Warrior.
Whether or not there is a follow-on competition will depend on how the results of the demonstration refine the AoA guidance, Crosby indicates. “If the analysis proves out, we will go immediately into a competitive environment. If not, then we are budgeted to do the [OH-58D] SLEP as planned.”
