Would the AH-6J (Little Bird make a good, low cost, helicopter for force protection?

On Mon, 17 May 2004 10:33:50 -0400, "Jeff" wrote:


OH-58A/C Kiowa, OH-58D Kiowa (slick, like in "Firebirds"), AHIP, AH-58D,
OH-58D(i) Kiowa Warrior, OH-58D(R) Kiowa Warrior, then after all
OH-58A/C/D's were upgraded to (i) or (R), the (i)'s went back to just
"OH-58D" and the (R)'s (R3 engine) stayed (R)'s. I know there are now
more
upgrades and improvements and I think most D's will become R's.


There was a battle of "intents" over this. Some thought that the AH-attack
would cause commanders to think of KW's light attack a/c and use them more
offensively (and lead to losses) which it is not designed for as opposed to
the OH-observation role and armed simply to defend itself. The Hellfire
stretched this to allow for long range high priority target engagements but
the overriding wisdom was to characterize this a/c as a snoop and poop
platform. Apaches have enough problems from small arms ground fire, can you
image KW's getting hit with the same? (Think about the ambush on two Apache
Bn's in Iraq several weeks ago. I believe it was 20+-some birds grounded
due to battle damage and the mission was scrubbed. KW's would have augered
in right there, with their crews.) Apaches are designed to bring their crews
home after getting hit. KW's won't.


In my book I'd say that it's not an official designation change until
the central aircraft database reflects it, regardless of whatever a
lone TM says or internal unit documentation calls it. Based on that
I'd say there were never any "official" AH-58s - the people who keep
track of the aircraft inventory always had them as OH-58s. And,
having seen one up close, it's data block stencil said "OH-58D", not
"AH-58D".

As another example, until the MH-60K came along, none of the MH-60A/Ls
that the 160th SOAR had were listed as MH-60s in the official database
records, i.e. if it's modified from its original form, the odds are it
won't get officially re-designated, but if it's contracted for and
comes from the factory that way, that's what goes into the database.
The AH-60s weren't "official" either.

John Hairell )