Seeking financial efficiencies and a more effective smaller future force, the Army plans to divest older or obsolete aircraft that would cost too much to keep in the inventory, to include some 800 UH-60A Black Hawks, the Utility Project Manager said.
In March, the Army decided to start divesting obsolete aircraft, including the UH-60A, or Alpha, fleet, Col. Thomas Todd told Defense Daily
last week in a telephone interview.
Separately, the Army wants to divest the TH-67 trainer and the OH-58 helicopters.
The oldest Alpha model was fielded in 1979.
The Army Alpha models can be reconditioned for other purposes. Therefore, Todd said, the Alpha models are offered “as is” to other government agencies. If there are no takers, then they are offered to original manufacturer Sikorsky [UTX]. Beyond that, if Sikorsky doesn’t want them, the Army must pay the bill to divest the helicopters.
The plan is to divest 40 to 70 Alpha models each year through 2028, he said.
“It’s a zero sum game. For every Mike model coming off the production line, the Army has to divest an Alpha model,” Todd said.
Right now, the Army’s fleet of 2,135 Black Hawk aircraft is a combination of A, L and M models.
Earlier this year, the Army acquisition chief decided to procure about one-third of Black Hawks using a refreshed L model with a digital cockpit, and “we’ve found what we believe is a very efficient way to maintain and get the most out of them,” Todd said.
There are 760 L models that will go through Corpus Christi, Texas, Army Depot (CCAD) at a rate of about 48 a year, he said.
At the same time, the Army is setting up a Prototype Integration Facility (PIF) at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., under the Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center.
It’s a new integration model, Todd said, “a unique marriage that reaches great synergy.”
Eighty percent of the refreshed L model parts will be the same as those in the Mike model.
The remaining 20 percent of the parts will be the high cost drivers, he said. The government will be able to use the procurement process for that hardware and software, allowing the government to be more agile and “we’ll be able to keep the competitive environment even in production for the kits.”
Todd added, “It’s a unique approach.” The PIF will make the solicitation and award, and the Utility office is waiting to see what PIF comes up with.
The L-digital kits will be installed at CCAD, leveraging the fact that the L model aircraft will be open and cleaned up as it moves through the refresh.
“We’ll save just by working with CCAD and leveraging the recap, starting in 2028, saving almost $1.5 billion over the life of the program,” he said.
The L digital cockpit will “look and act” just like the M-model cockpit, so pilots can fly either one without needing to be retrained. This provides a greater efficiency for the Army.