Meet The Army's New $13 Million Dollar Helicopter

[unhappycamper]

unhappycamper note: Since the ‘Pentagon’ has ‘requested’ that I only post one paragraph from articles on Army Times, and Airforce Times, I’ve decided to give ya’ll an unhappycamper summary of the article and a link to the OP. To keep in that same (new) tradition, I will also do the same for for articles on Navy Times, Marine Corps Times, stripes.com and military.com.

To read the article in the military's own words, you will need to click the link.

(This space reserved for a legally correct snark dump.) It sure is beginning to smell like fascism.

unhappycamper summary of this article: On 10.10.2007, the Huffington Post reported "Army's New $2.6 Billion Helicopter Can't Fly In "Bathing Suit Weather".

The original 'thought' of the DoD was to purchase '345 Lakota helicopters by 2017' which would bring the price down to around $7.5 million dollars a pop.

This article sez we're only going to get 200 of them, so the math changes a bit: $2.6 billion / 200 = $13,000,000 pop.




http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.117751.1284129483!/image/1172134314.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_240/1172134314.jpg

A UH-72 Lakota stands on display Thursday in Hohenfels, Germany. The helicopter is replacing the UH-1 "Huey" as the US Army's light utility helicopter. The camouflage paint is used for training purposes for ground troops to identify it as an enemy aircraft.


Army shows off newest helicopter for distinguished guests
By Dan Blottenberger
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 10, 2010

~snip~

The U.S. Army is fielding 200 of the German-made, U.S.-assembled Lakotas worldwide to use for medical evacuations, training missions and VIP flights. U.S. Army in Europe officials plan to replace its current fleet of 10 UH-1 “Huey” helicopters with the Lakotas by January.

[backwoodsbob]

1. 13 mill a pop for the huey replacement?

can't say that's a bad deal

[unhappycamper]

2. I don't object to the military getting this helicopter.

"Each aircraft carries a $4.5 million price tag, but it’s worth the money, said pilot Chief Warrant Officer 3 Harold Eggleston."

I do however, object to them lying about the price.

[Toots]

3. I loved the old Huey but they are no more than jalopies compared to the new models.

There is nothing quite like flying eighty MPH tree top level with guns blaring..

[MilesColtrane]

4. When are they going to replace the Chinook?

Last time I was on one of them (20 years ago) the flight engineer was assigned to the back of the helicopter to visually inspect the engine/rotor linkage to make sure that nothing fell off during the flight.

I flew in three different CH-47s and they ALL broke down. One, memorably, in mid-flight resulting in an emergency landing at a ROK air base.

[unhappycamper]

5. I think they are now on the CH-47M.

I saw an article in the last two weeks about upgrading more M models.

The $100 million dollar Osprey is a tad expensive to buy and operate.

[MilesColtrane]

6. Re: Osprey

I'd rather take my chances in a Chinook than fly in one of those.

[unhappycamper]

7. Shithooks have been flying for a looooong time.

I flew in them both times I was in Nam. Noisy as hell, but they seemed to work reasonably well.