Comanche Project Scrapped

FutureRANGER

FutureRANGER

Active member
The US Army scrapped the Comanche helocopter project. Its terrible :( . Aparently there were too many major projects soaking up funds. And the project was overbudget (what isn't?).

From the first days of the Bush administration there has been talk of canceling a number of major aviation projects, including the Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey hybrid helicopter-airplane and the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor fighter jet, but so far the Comanche has been the only casualty.
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Why did they scrap the Comanche? It seems to have a lot more use than the Osprey. That thing was a fiasco, killed a bunch of Marines, no way it'll ever work, billions over-budget. Instead they scrap an awesome copter. They specifically requested it.

The Army said it needed a stealthier, more capable armed reconnaissance helicopter not only to collect and distribute battlefield intelligence but to destroy enemy forces.
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The Osprey was some clown idea.

But I suppose it had to be done, money doesn't grow on trees. Terrible thing though, look how sweet this baby looks.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_helo_022404,00.html

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If I was some guerilla and I saw this monster coming at me, I tell you I'm terrified.
 
The Osprey is not a bad aircraft, I'll need to find the numbers again, but the Blackhawk (generally considered a wild success) has a greater malfunction ratio than the Osprey. One of the ex-Rangers in my Sherriff's Posse has told me all kinds of stories about the "Crashhawk," and it's a fact of life that you are going to experience a certain amount of mechanical failures with a piece of equipment that is used like military hardware is (massive amounts of flight time, rigorous training use, etc.). The reputation of the Osprey as unreliable is, I believe, highly overdone.
The Comanche is not needed right now because the AH64D is already far more advanced than anything the OPFOR may have and has proven itself to be more than capable of fulfilling its mission, making a sexy new spaceman helicopter (however cool it may look) an unneccesary expenditure of funds, especially with this little deal going on in Iraq sucking up all the dough the R and D guys normally have to play with. (Meaning there are better things we need to use that money for.)
 
Not particularly. What makes me happy is that weapons originally fielded in the 50s (the C-130 family, for example) and 60s (the F-15 and AH1), and the 70s (the F-16) are still better than anything the enemy has to offer. Now that's superiority.
The Comanche was a pretty idea, though.
 
I wish I could remember where the report was. But the V-22 wasn't a dangerous aircraft. They found out a lot of the crashes were due to pilots trying to show off.

I admit, I'm a bit sad by the cancellation of the project. One of the reasons I wanted to fly helos was the Comanche. But it really is unneccesary. We can tack that onto the list of other Cold War developed relics like the Seawolf Class attack sub. We should be glad though, that our current inventory of equipment is still head above the rest even though it is old (at least in our book). But at least we have all of those cool toys in our back pocket that we can develope on in the future.
 
egoz is right, but the commanche had all those inner systems and the smooth look outside when the weapons moveout. I remember the "tactical to practical" episode about it
 
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