Goodbye Comache, we hardly knew you...

["Sixhits"]

The pentagon just canceled the Comache armed recon helocopter.

8 billion down the drain.

At least it looked cool.

(for us Hawks out there, that's two really big weapons programs canceled by Bush's boys - the Army's fancy dancy new mobil artilery system and now the Comache - I wonder when the FA-22 is getting the ax?)

Btw - war president? Cutting military programs? I guess we have to pay for Iraq somehow.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/02/23/helicopter.cancel.ap/index.html

[Supernatural Pie]

That's a damn shame.

We can only hope that the 22 does not meet the same fate.  

[seth]

that's a god thing.
That piece of s... was supposed to cost  12 millions $ but after all "refinements" thr price tag went up to 58 millions/unit.

yes, it's a shame.

[kami]

How necessary is a huge ass mobile artillery cannon really in a modern war when you've got total air superirority and smart bombs? The choppers may look cool but there are better ways to spend your money than fitting a flying duck with missiles.

[|MP|Cringe]

Comanche.

And its somewhat necessary for looks cause its damn well intimidating, especially if you only have rocks and youre infront of it on the ground.

[alaric]

I don't see how this is anything but a good thing. Both of these projects were outdated weapons platforms. The face of warfare is changing and rather than putting more cash into an already outdated project, the pentagon is gonna spend it on more up-to-date weapons platforms. How is that bad?

[cO.Kuza]

All this new weaponry, I mean really who are we kidding who are we fighting.
Insergents in buildigs with RPGs, We dont need a 30 million dollar helicopter to kill that. Wast of money, But It did look damn nice.

[Cossack]

Actually the tactic of verticle envelopment is perfect for counter insurgency and counter terrorism actions. However the Comanche was needlesly expensive, kind of like the Crusader (mobile artillery) which required too many supplies to keep operational. This is the biggest problem with US military equipment. You need massive logistics to operate a US combat force.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Alaric is closer to the truth than most.  The real problem with the Comanche was how long it took to develop.  This thing is head and shoulders above the Apache Longbow, and every other helicopter out there, bar none.  But, it's been so long in development, that there are new advances in technology that they'd want to put into practice, but can't now with the Comanche.

Attack helicopters are a very very useful tool (unlike the Crusader, which had all the negatives that tanks do, but with none of the positives).  

There are already F22's active in the service now.  And they have already purchased quite a few JSF's.  The JSF's may cut into the F22's numbers, being cheaper (they'll probably just replace the F15's with the 22's now, and the F16's with the JSF's).  The 15's and 16's will hang around for a while, especially in the Air National Guard, but the airframes of both of them are pretty old now, and would have been replaced long ago if we hadn't been in relatively (compared to the previous 50) peaceful period the last 30 years.  

If any of you haven't seen it, Nova did a great special on the JSF selection, with the two aircraft being developed, the change process, etc.  Great documentary, but more importantly, how quickly they developed the new planes is what needs to happen in the future.

["Sixhits"]

The JSF is fun.

kinda like a LEGO kit. Or a transformer.

Slot the VTOL thrusters here for the Marines, insert supped-up landing gear for the NAVY, tack on an extra hard point or two for the Air Force, strip and replace the advanced avionics package with a more mundane one for foreign sales ...

[cO.gabe]

The JSF looks pretty awesome.  Transformer-like qualities could make it a very good overall plane, and would save loads of money.

Anyway, what ever happened to the Blackbird?  That was (is?) a pretty chill plane, was faster than most if I remember correctly.  I'm not a plane expert, I just know it was awesome looking.  Maybe it just sucked so they got rid of it?  Sry guys im on speed so i might sound like im just rambling or something.  Just humor me.

["Sixhits"]

Speed? Very bad man. Seriously.

Blackbird = supposed world's fastest plane.

However, Blackbird's speed < speed of new AA missiles.

Further, Blackbird's role, dangerous recon missions, has been handed over to much more consistant,  spy sats. Soon, we will see UMRVs (unmanned recon vehicles) that loiter really really high up. They'll be phased in.

Finally, Blackbird was expensive.

[cO.gabe]

Speed? Very bad man. Seriously.

I'll call it adderall if you prefer...sounds less...ominous...

[cO.Kuza]

Ouch. i just heard that the military canceld the plan right after sikorsky finished their new plant to built the thing....how embarrasing.

[Cossack]

Thats bad for their company, but since they are the most trusted helicopter manufacturer they will probablly be contracted for whatever new chopper the US military needs.

[cO.Kuza]

The military said they would buy 700 black hawks in compensation for the project cancelation, and uprade older helos.