Combat aviation: New attitudes about UAVs shape Army's scout helicopter program.

• Author: Wright, Austin
• Position: Aviation

* The Army has tried unsuccessfully for decades to build a new scout helicopter to replace the aging Kiowa Warrior. After canceling two multibillion-dollar helicopter programs, the Army has decided that a conventional rotorcraft is no longer the answer.

The latest plan to replace the Kiowa would involve a mix of new helicopters and unmanned air vehicles. Officials now believe that a manned-unmanned fleet can perform the scout mission more effectively than piloted aircraft alone.

"What you're seeing in the Army is a new mindset" about unmanned aviation and an appreciation of what it can do, said Tim Owings, the Army's deputy project manager for unmanned aircraft systems.

The Army issued "requests for information" to industry for a Kiowa replacement. The program, previously known as ARH, or "armed reconnaissance helicopter," was renamed "armed aerial scout" in recognition that a helicopter alone may not be solution. An analysis of contractors' proposals is expected be completed within 18 months.

"We're looking at three options to replace ARH: manned, unmanned and a blend of manned/unmanned," Owings told National Defense.

The tortured history of the Kiowa replacement goes back to the early 1980s, when the Army launched the Comanche. After tens of billions of dollars spent, that program ended in 2004 and in its place the Army started the ARH. After massive cost overruns, that program was scrapped in 2008. That was when Army officials determined that the advances in unmanned aviation called for a different approach to replacing the Kiowa.

"When ARH was invented there was a lot of skepticism from the manned aviation side about unmanned aviation," said Owings. "That's behind us now."

The breakthrough came during the past couple of years, when Apache helicopter pilots started receiving video feeds from UAVs. "As soon as we put that video in the Apache cockpits, their eyes lit up. For the first time they knew what was behind the building and what they were rolling into," Owings said. "The fact that we're so complementary to the manned aviation mission has changed the mindset. There's a belief that they can rely on unmanned assets and they can get the information they need.

"For the most part a UAV can do the recon mission," said Owings. Certain tasks still require human operators. One helicopter, for example, could be netted with five UAVs. With more "eyes on the ground," a helicopter pilot could engage more targets, could even launch weapons from...