Aircraft fleet modernization gains momentum.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: ARMY

DURING THE NEXT SIX YEARS, the Army will procure 1,000 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, the service plans to restore 1,655 Black Hawks, Chinooks, and Apaches as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Army aviation has completed four years of continuous combat operations," said the director of Army aviation, Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Mundt. "During this time, we have flown more than one million hours on our manned and unmanned aircraft systems."

As part of its so-called "reset" program, the Army is repairing any battle or crash damage that the aircraft might have incurred. It also is providing them with the latest aircraft survivability equipment, including anti-aircraft missile detectors, jammers and chaff and flare countermeasure devices.

At the Corpus Christi Army Depot, in Texas, the service has a $275 million contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., of Stratford Conn., to overhaul existing Black Hawks. The Army also is buying new copies of the latest version of the Black Hawk, the UH-60M.

The Boeing Co., of Chicago, is upgrading the Chinooks to either the CH-47F or the MH-47G special operations configuration. That work is being performed at Boeing's helicopter factory in Ridley Park, Pa., as part of a 2003 contract worth up to $140 million.

Boeing also is refurbishing Apaches at its facility in Mesa, Ariz., under a 2005 contract worth as much as $41.5 million. The Apache program aims to return aircraft to service within 60 days.

The rate of production for the common missile warning system and improved countermeasure dispenser has been doubled, Mundt noted. This system--being installed on Apaches, Black Hawks and Chinooks--automatically detects an incoming missile and dispenses the appropriate countermeasure, removing the pilot in the loop.

"We "also have installed ballistic armor aircraft protection systems on the UH-60 and CH-47 aircraft, and blue force tracking on the AH-64, UH-60 and CH-47," Mundt said.

In November, the Army's Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command awarded Westar Aerospace & Defense Group Inc., of St. Louis, a $2.7 million contract to install information-management technology at nine reset sites across the United States and in Germany. This system is designed to provide commanders and aviation support personnel with improved access to readiness and logistics-management information, said Steve Waiters, Westar's vice president for technology development.

The service is remanufacturing 300 of its existing 431 CH-47D Chinook helicopters into a new generation known as the CH-47F. The Chinook is the Army's only heavy lift cargo rotorcraft capable of moving payloads greater than 9,000 pounds. The latest version can transport 33 troops or 24 first-aid litters, plus its crew of three. It also can carry 26,000 pounds slung from a center hook underneath its belly, 17,000 pounds from a forward hook or 25,000 pounds using both hooks in tandem.

The CH-47F will feature a digital cockpit that permits installation of enhanced communications and navigation equipment. The same cockpit will be used in the MH-47G special operations Chinook and the HH-47 proposed for the Air Force combat search and rescue program.

Airframe structural modifications will reduce vibrations, lower operational and support costs, and improve crew endurance. Additional airframe alterations will provide a 60 percent reduction in the time required to tear down or build up the aircraft after it...