The US Army bought three Bell Helicopter 407 helicopters yesterday for $7 million.
It was only five months ago that the army terminated a $6 billion contract to buy 522 Bell 407s modified into ARH-70s. Ironically, the deal was terminated largely because the cost of buying a single ARH had ballooned to about $14 million each, or twice the amount for all three aircraft purchased yesterday!
Of course, there are a few differences. The army is buying the three 407s on behalf of the Iraqi Air Force. The three airframes will be modified to carry weapons and serve as armed scout helicopters. If the modifications prove successful, the army will buy at least 24 more helicopters for the Iraqis.
Oh, the irony. If this works out -- and judging from past performance that's a big "if" -- the US Army could be more successful at buying combat aircraft for other militaries than for itself!
on February 20, 2009 9:38 PM | Reply
Maybe these will be the class lead when they recompete the ARH. Bell might have just baselined the configuration. All they have to do now is learn to say no to the customer when they attempt to gold plate it. (EADS Lakota style.)
on February 21, 2009 2:54 AM | Reply
You can bet that the inflated cost of the ARH-70 was due to gold plating of "requirements" by the military. It looks like Iraq is going to sling some guns on the airframe and point the nose where they want to shoot.