US Army Still Has Need For A Manned Scout Helicopter.

The US Army still considers the manned scout helicopter to be an essential component of its force structure, despite retiring its current fleet and cancelling its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) procurement programme.

US Army Still Has Need For A Manned Scout Helicopter.

In an article published on the service's website in late-March, Major General Michael D. Lundy, commander of the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence, told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that the requirement for a manned scout helicopter has not changed, despite the divesture of the Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior that is now ongoing, and the decision in 2013 not to go ahead with the AAS project to replace it.

"We still have a valid requirement for Armed Aerial Scout - that has not changed. We made a fiscal decision [to cancel the programme], based on the original 40% cuts that came into the aviation modernisation portfolio," he said.

The army currently has about 270 OH-58 helicopters remaining in its inventory which it is in the process of retiring. The AAS programme was to replace these with either the Airbus Helicopters AAS-72X, AgustaWestland AW139M, Bell Helicopter OH-58 Block II Kiowa Warrior; Boeing AH-6i, or MD Helicopters MD 540A, depending on the outcome of the competition. With the AAS being canned, the army instead chose to transition over to the OH-58F instead, before this effort too was abandoned on cost grounds.