Politics folks.....Politics!
One sells the idea of cutting the Kiowa's with no replacement....shifting around Aircraft you have left.....claiming it saves money even though it doesn't.
Then three Years down the road when Welfare Man leaves Office and the Senate is firmly in Republican hands....DOD starts getting funded adequately again (translated that means Defense Contractors and not Social Welfare Organizations get funded) then you buy a new Scout Fleet and go through the shift of on-hand Aircraft a second time.....claiming that saves money in the out years. Granted, the need to fund SLEP Programs to update the now well worn Black Hawks and Apaches becomes a necessity as the extra use of the two fleets caused un-foreseen wear and tear.
Right now the Regular Army is in "Survival" mode due to the Sequestration Budget Cuts....and the National Guard and Reserves are going to take really huge hits in order to keep the Regular Army funded and equipped.
Ordinero got caught talking Porky Pies recently when he dissed the National Guard and purely pissed off National Guard leadership.
We go through this song and dance every time the Army's budget goes into crisis mode.....nothing new here....just the same old Army Politics on display.
Any idiot knows you cannot operate Apaches and Blackhawks as cheaply as you can Kiowa's.....and I mean no one. The fact that if you **** can the Kiowa fleet.....at some point you will have to replace them with a comparable aircraft as the Black Hawk and Apache fleets will start reaching their Life Cycle Ends much sooner than planned and that will cause a really huge financial crisis.
Face it.....Industry, Politicians, and non-military Politicians are all into this together.....and that is why such a patently stupid decision is not being held up for ridicule.
The National Guard will not complain too loud so long as they do not start losing Manpower beyond that comparable to the Regular Army.....as they will be getting Black Hawks in lieu of Apaches. They will retain the Lakota's for State Business and have the Black Hawks for "Army" business.
The key factor to look for is any reduction in the augmentation of Regular Army Units by National Guard and Reserve units. Right now National Guard and Reserve units are integrated into Regular Army units as a strategic policy change post Vietnam where the Army had to fight that War without being allowed to mobilize the Reserves.
Those that made that decision never considered we would have a period of over 15 years with almost constant deployments to combat by Guard and Reserve Units. The temptation will be to revert to pre-Vietnam Man Power allocations and altering of Reserve and Guard unit Mission requirements, TO&E. and Manning levels.....which is what Ordinero was saying without saying it.