Free Republic

The Army is planning to retool its combat aviation brigades by altering some of the units' combination of aircraft and by adding drones. The aim is to convert all of the brigades to the “medium” combination of aircraft, which Kelly Pate, Army public affairs officer at Fort Rucker, Ala., said allows the commander “maximum flexibility.” Aviation brigades fall into three categories: — Heavy: Two AH-64 Apache attack helicopter battalions, one UH-60 Black Hawk assault battalion and one CH-47 Chinook support battalion. — Medium: One AH-64 Apache battalion, one OH-58D Kiowa reconnaissance squadron, one UH-60 Black Hawk assault battalion and one...

An Army helicopter on a training exercise crashed this afternoon at Wheeler Army Airfield at Schofield Barracks, and there are initial reports of multiple injuries. Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Earle Kealoha said firefighters responded to a call of a downed aircraft at 3:34 p.m. But when they arrived four minutes later, federal fire crews already had the fire under control. The airfield houses helicopters assigned to both 25th Infantry Division and the Hawaii Army National Guard. The Federal Aviation Administration said initial reports indicate that the crash involved a military helicopter. An Army spokesman confirmed that the aircraft was a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Textron's (NYSE:TXT - news) Bell Helicopter unit was chosen on Friday by the U.S. Army to build 368 new armed reconnaissance helicopters in a contract that the company valued at $2.2 billion. The new helicopters would replace the Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, that were also produced by Bell. Bell beat out a rival team led by Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) for the work that will start with an initial development contract worth $210.7 million. Bell offered the Army a military version of its 407 helicopter, an upgraded version of the OH-58 family that has a...