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New helo to have manned, unmanned capability

The Army has embarked upon a study aimed at developing requirements for a new, high-altitude Armed Aerial Scout helicopter.

In fact, the aircraft itself — the program emerging from the now-canceled Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter — may turn out to be an unmanned helicopter, or a modified version of an existing platform such as the Kiowa warrior or Apache attack helicopter.

Phase 1 of the study, being conducted by the Training and Doctrine Command research and analysis center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is scheduled to be completed by spring of next year.

“Whatever we end up doing will have a manned-unmanned teaming flavor to it,” said Col. Keith Robinson, project manager, Armed Scout Helicopter. “It could be Kiowas, Apaches or more of the ERMPs [Extended Range Multi-Purpose Sky Warrior UAV]. The intent is to get some initial looks at the requirements and use that information in the 2012-2017 [program objective memorandum] build. We are trying to get out in front of potential fiscal requirements.”

Phase 2 of the study will come at the end of calendar year 2010, with a final report by April 2011.

The results will identify the tasks the aircraft is expected to perform, and will focus on sharing UAV feeds such as Lockheed’s VUIT-2 system, which allows Apache pilots to view video transmitted by nearby UAVs in the cockpit.

“We have seen success with the Apaches being integrated with unmanned systems in theater, in terms of moving video around. That seems to work very well for us. You will see that capability regardless of what system we select,” Robinson said.

The study will center on the challenges of the current combat environment, such as the need for reconnaissance in the mountainous, high-altitude regions of Afghanistan.

“They will look at where our current fleet is required to operate and include that in their assessment — for example, maybe it will look for something that can operate a little higher in hotter weather,” Robinson said.

Retrofitted or modernized versions of the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout helicopter could be chosen as an option.

The Army is planning to fly and maintain Kiowas in the fleet through 2025, Robinson said.

“Kiowa is one of the many options available to the group. I would expect that that is an option they will look at with potential additional investments — for example, a drive train upgrade, engine upgrade, new rotor system and new tail rotor,” Robinson said.