The Huntsville Times February 24, 2004
Budget knife cuts 'copter at Redstone
400 work with Comanche; government jobs said safe
By Shelby G. Spires
The RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, managed by the Army at Redstone Arsenal, is the latest large military program to fall victim to a Pentagon knife because of budget woes and questions about the need for large weapons systems.
It is unclear what will happen to the almost 400 people who work on the Comanche program in Huntsville, but Army officials said Monday no government jobs would be lost.
The Army canned the $38 billion scout and attack helicopter program Monday, saying that there's no pressing need for the aircraft that was planned during the Cold War, and that the money could be better spent upgrading existing aircraft.
The aerospace contractor, Boeing-Sikorsky, will receive $2.7 billion for planned work and expenses on the program, said Bob Hunt, an Army spokesman in Huntsville. The contract could take up to a year to close out, he said.
At the Comanche Program Office on Redstone, 381 people performed Comanche work, Hunt said.
"They worked on a variety of tasks, mostly management of the program, but also some support and design engineering as well as software work," he said.
Hunt offered reassurances for those workers. "Nobody who works on the government side of this is going to be without a job," Hunt said. "They will be moved to other programs."
About 160 contractor jobs are tied to the Comanche office here, Hunt said. The businesses holding the Comanche contracts will decide what happens to those workers, but the contract work won't stop immediately.
Comanche program managers will begin to reduce the contract employees over the next few months, Hunt said.
Army managers plan to transfer as much as possible of the high-technology research and development work into other areas. The Army plans additional upgrades to its AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, which could benefit from the Comanche work, Hunt said.
All Army aircraft are managed in Huntsville by the Program Executive Office for Aviation.
However, the Army could find it tough grafting one software package designed for a new Comanche helicopter onto a small, unmanned aerial vehicle or an older Apache attack helicopter. The Comanche was slated to have at least four advanced computers onboard. Older and smaller aircraft couldn't easily accommodate the software, said John Pike, a defense expert with Washington, D.C.-based GlobalSecurity.org.
"It's hard to say if all the avionics and software work could go into the Apache or other uses," Pike said. "But that's an awful lot of money the Army has spent for something that will probably end up as a display at the Air and Space Museum" in Washington.
The Army plans to use the $14.6 billion allocated for the Comanche to:
Buy UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The Army has lost numerous Black Hawks and Apaches in the war in Iraq.
Design and develop improved Block III AH-64 Apaches. The Army wants to upgrade cockpit avionics and survivability of the more than 700 20-year-old attack helicopters.
Develop a lightweight utility helicopter. This would replace the Vietnam-era UH-1 Hueys now used by the National Guard.
Build ad-vanced unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. These could be controlled on the ground or by another aircraft. Now in use daily over Iraq, the UAVs are performing missions traditionally held by scout aircraft.
Develop advanced avionics. In some aircraft, the gauges and instruments pilots use date to the mid-1970s.
Improve aircraft survivability systems. Work is going on today to improve missile and radar threat detectors on Army helicopters, along with instruments that can fool enemy defenses.
© Copyright 2004, The Huntsville Times
