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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Improved Cargo Helicopter (ICH) is a remanufactured version of the CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopter with the new T55-GA-714A engines. The CH-47D is a twin-turbine tandem rotor helicopter designed for combat and combat support heavy-lift cargo missions. The ICH program is intended to restore CH-47D airframes to their original condition and extend the aircraft's life expectancy another 20 years. Additional improvements in the ICH include: (1) fuselage stiffening (this is expected to lead to improved reliability and therefore reduced operating and support costs); and (2) integrated cockpit and digital architecture for Force XXI compatibility.

Additional improvements may be incorporated into the aircraft if funding permits.

The ICH will transport weapons, ammunition, equipment, troops, and other cargo in general support of combat units and operations other than war. The ICH is a dominant maneuver platform that provides focused logistics to the force.

The Army initiated the ICH program with a Milestone (MS) II DAB decision in 3QFY98. (Because the ICH program represents a modification to an existing system, it is re-entering the acquisition cycle at MS II and proceeding into EMD.) The IOT&E is scheduled for 2QFY02, and MS III is scheduled for 1QFY04. The program was designated a component-level program because of its perceived low risk.

DOT&E worked with the Army to develop an initial TEMP for the ICH program. This initial TEMP was approved on December 12, 1997. An update to the TEMP that reflects the award of the EMD contract and the DAB decision, which called for a second LRIP contract, was approved by OSD on November 6, 1998.

DOT&E recommended approval of a Service requested waiver from full-up, system-level testing and an alternative LFT&E test plan on December 11, 1997. DOT&E approved the LFT&E strategy on January 6, 1999. There have been no ICH LFT&E testing events to date.

If executed as planned and resourced, the proposed test program is adequate to provide sufficient data to assess the ICH's operational effectiveness and suitability. In addition, an extensive LFT&E program is planned to examine vulnerability issues pertaining to the aircraft.

The OT&E concept for the ICH will focus on operational suitability. The helicopter's mission-related range and payload requirements-the primary effectiveness issues-will be realized by installing the new engines (a separate engineering change proposal); OT must verify that these capabilities are not diminished as a result of ICH modifications.

As noted previously, the ICH program is expected to reduce O&S costs by decreasing the maintenance burden on the cargo helicopter unit compared to the CH-47D. This will be a challenge to demonstrate in the limited time available in an IOT&E. To mitigate this limitation, reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) data will be collected throughout contractor testing, technical testing and operational testing. Furthermore, there are also plans to extend RAM data collection beyond the IOT&E in order to continue the evaluation of the aircraft's RAM performance as it accumulates additional flight-hours.

From a technical perspective, there are two primary risk areas (both are "low risk"): (1) aviation avionics, specifically, integrating off-the-shelf components into an open systems architecture to develop an Army XXI cockpit; and (2) airframe stiffening to reduce vibration. Improvements in these areas are designed to improve the helicopter's reliability and availability.

Pre-EMD testing has reduced the risk associated with the airframe stiffening and vibration reduction modifications. This testing was accomplished using a modified CH-47D, called the vibration reduction test aircraft, and established that existing technologies such as structural stiffening and modified vibration absorbers could reduce vibration.

Avionics upgrades will rely largely on non-developmental components and systems. Unlike ground combat systems-such as the M1A2 Abrams Tank and the latest Bradley model, the M2A3-integration of data-bused electronic components is routinely accomplished in aircraft. Particularly for an aircraft manufacturer like Boeing (the contractor selected for the program), this is not expected to be a difficult undertaking.

It will also be a challenge for the Army to explicitly demonstrate the benefits of the program's digitization component. This is certainly not unique to the ICH program or to Army Aviation; all the communities are struggling to show the value added by digitized command and control. The IOT&E will be structured so that the system's capabilities can be demonstrated in an operationally realistic setting to assist the operators in providing a credible assessment of the new capabilities.