In a typical Army mentality, the system that wants to "restructure and revitalize Army aviation to meet current and future needs" killed the one avenue it had to do exactly that. As a retired Army pilot, I have watched for years as this branch of military service seemingly anti-aviation, makes all the wrong decisions concerning aviation. This one will be their worst and most costly "wrong decision." (Of course, they have always been pretty good at trying to make a helicopter do everything and bloating it out of existence.) The Air Force would never let an advanced air frame go by the wayside ... Why? Because their bread and butter is in aviation. Not so with the Army. For the Army, the bread is buttered with infantry and armor. Aviation has always been a thorn in "soldiers" sides ... because they get to wear those darn flight suits ... who do they think they are?It takes decades to get a new, more advanced airframe into service. They just killed any opportunity for a modern military combat helicopter in most of our lifetimes. Sure they can rebuild and modernize the Apache, but at some point, the Apache will fall short. There is no breathing room now and the helicopter will become even more essential in these small-country, limited engagements we seem to desire.The Army should bite the bullet and move all aviation assets into the Air Force where real aviation decisions can be made!Dale Carlson
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/reader-mail/avmail-march-1-2004