"The Last American Scout Helicopter" Topic

"The U.S. Army has decided to replace its lightweight scout helicopters with UAVs. This was made possible because the latest version (AH-64E) of the helicopter gunship is equipped to monitor, in real time, what UAVs see and even take control of some UAVs. In effect these UAVs, especially the Predator-like MQ-1C and smaller RQ-7 are replacing the scout helicopters.

This decision was not new. By 2013 the army had decided to stop looking for a new scout helicopters and instead went with an improved version of the Kiowa Warrior scout helicopter (the OH-58F). The army had long wanted to buy a new scout helicopter design, preferably a new design or using an existing civilian model. But years of evaluations led the army to conclude that the fifty year old Bell 206 model, used as the basis for the OH-58A, was still the best available. None of the new candidates were sufficiently superior to outweigh the fact that the basic Bell 206 design, as upgraded and modified since the 1960s as the OH-58, had more than kept pace with potential new rivals. So the army upgraded the OH-58D with much improved electronics (Internet-like capabilities and the ability to control nearby UAVs) and pilot protection. A lot of existing components were replaced with new versions that were stronger and/or more powerful. About 60 percent of the components in the F model are new. Production begins in 2015 and the first of over 300 OH-58Fs (upgrades or new aircraft) will enter service in 2016. But at point the army finally decided that the age of the manned scout helicopter was over. This solved the problem that the scout helicopters were always the most dangerous to fly because, after all, they went ahead of the helicopter gunships and ground troops to, well, scout ahead. The growing number (and lethality) of portable anti-aircraft weapons made driving a scout helicopter more and more dangerous. Time to send in the droids…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

The end of an era.

I'll tell y'all this much: the capabilities of the -64E are extremely impressive. Normal Apache LLTV/IR optics, with some really nice datalink and target handoff capabilities. No trouble at all to use these to acquire targets for Blue Air.

Sniff…

Got a lot of hours flying 58s.

No more, "When in doubt, burn a scout!"

No more, "The target is marked by the burning scout!"

@Scoutjock: That's OK, my North Vietnamese objective marker for Flames of Vietnam is a burning LOACH. You will live on on my game table!