Where's the engine, Chopper?
For CTR:
Most of what OH-58 can do drones can do, recon wise.
Shooting wise, the hellfire add on was nice, but it's too slow.
Manpower wise, when it was shelved, the army saved thousands of billets to move elsewhere during a manpower reduction
They also cut an entire logistics tail for a model Bell wasn't being great about supporting any more.
(The Navy ran into similar problems with the TH-57, but different ones at that).
Capability wise, the combined scout and attack mission with Apache and drones/UAVs works well enough.
Your are focusing on an airframe, not on a capability. Sorry, but it was the right choice for the Army.
The OH-58D was a great little aircraft, and the F update was something I once knew a small amount about but have mostly forgotten since.
With NDA's considered, I can say that during some ops - that involved shooting - the whole thing was aided and completed with OH-58D being a part of the op.
Good folks, good job, good bird, not too expensive to operate.
Letting it go was a very sound decision. (Particularly at the time, given the political environment).
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 9th Oct 2023 at 18:25.