It’s budget day, so keep your eye on the cups as budgeteers move them round and round. In real life, the Army will shrink steadily from its peak of almost 570,000 soldiers to 490,000 by 2017. But, on paper, in the Pentagon’s base budget for 2013, that shrinkage will happen overnight at the beginning of… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The proposition can’t be proven yet, but it’s likely some Marines in Afghanistan who might have been killed or wounded since mid-December by roadside bombs, aka IEDs, are alive and well today thanks to an experimental unmanned helicopter the Corps is testing. Between Dec. 17 and Jan. 12, two remotely piloted but largely automated… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: One lesson the Army has taken to heart from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the value — and often the necessity — of aviation to soldiers fighting on the ground. This is one reason that, even as the Army shrinks by a reported 80,000 or more troops under President Obama’s new military… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: If the Army wants to get the Armed Aerial Scout into the fleet — which it wants to badly — it’s gonna have to sacrifice parts of its air portfolio to get there. Federal funding for the Army’s air directorate will likely remain static in the Pentagon’s upcoming budget proposal for fiscal 2012, Maj.… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s premiere combat helicopter and unmanned drone can now operate in tandem during future combat operations after successfully completing initial tests late last year. Officials at Naval Air Systems command were able to link up the Lockheed Martin-built MH-60 Sierra with Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout unmanned drone during a series of operational evaluations… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Defense lawmakers blessed the Navy’s plans to begin a new multiyear plan to bolster its fleet of MH-60 combat helicopters, according to legislation passed this week. Earlier this week, lawmakers approved two new multiyear procurement plans pitched by the Navy as part of the final version of the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill. The… Keep reading →

Washington: Defense giant Boeing is wasting no time pushing its newest attack helicopter onto the international market. Boeing is already fielding informal solicitations from a number of foreign militaries about the newest version of the Army’s AH-64 Apache. Representatives from several foreign militaries visited Boeing’s facility in Mesa, Arizona to commemorate the delivery of the… Keep reading →

Washington: The Army has given up on developing an entirely new armed scout helicopter for now, but plans to invite companies with existing helicopters that can do armed reconnaissance to demonstrate their wares. Maj. Gen. Tim Crosby, who runs Army aviation programs, announced at the annual Association of the US Army conference in Washington that… Keep reading →

Washington: The Army uses Native American tribe names as nicknames for its helicopters – Black Hawk, Kiowa Warrior and Lakota, for instance — but Boeing Co. officials at the Association of the United States Army’s annual convention in Washington are joshing that the service may want to start calling the company’s AH-64D Apache attack helicopter… Keep reading →

Philadelphia: The CH-47 Chinook helicopter has been flying U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines into some of the world’s most dangerous places for over 50 years. Now, a new program office will ensure that the venerable aircraft will still be able to fly those missions for another 50 years, the Army Colonel in charge of… Keep reading →