Originally Posted by
SplineDrive
Yup... and the Army retired their scout aircraft and are currently receiving new build mediums. Leading off with the CapSet3 medium aircraft never made much sense.
In retrospect, it appears it was dangling the big carrot (4000 aircraft UH-60/AH-64 replacement) to get the OEMs to invest and demonstrate their technology. It also made more sense at the time because it predated the colossal blunder of mothballing the OH-58s.
But now it appears to be a gigantic middle finger to Bell, who to date have done exactly what was asked with their demo - on time and on budget - only to get the Army waffling on whether or not they really are going to go through with CS3 first...or even at all!
I can imagine a scenario where the Army ends up saying "Well we really need that Kiowa replacement because we totally f'ed up by retiring them" and the subsequent procurement of the scouts (especially if they really believe the suspect cost estimates Sikorsky has published on the Raider) eats their budget to such a degree that replacing the mediums will seem like a pipe dream.
It seems unfathomable that the Army would expect OEMs like Bell to absorb the cost of building and flying ANOTHER demonstrator, particularly on this condensed proposed timescale. I don't see how they can afford that - their pockets aren't nearly as deep as LockMart/Boeing.
FARA isnt remotely feasible as a real competition unless the Army is really just looking for a way to buy the S97