The DAB must give the program the green light before the contractor-Bell Helicopter Textron-can begin production. By 2008, the Marine Corps plans to begin fielding fleet squadrons, each composed of six Cobras and three Hueys.Ī high-level Pentagon review by the Defense Acquisition Board is scheduled for August.
#STARMADE COCKPIT UPGRADE#
“We reached a point when we needed to turn things around or find an alternative aircraft,” he told National Defense.Įach helicopter now is expected to cost, on average, $16.5 million, a bargain price compared to what new helos cost, Isleib said.īetween 2003-2009, the Marine Corps will spend $1.1 billion on research and development and $5.6 billion to upgrade at least 280 aircraft. Isleib attributed the problems to a gross underestimation of the cost, dating back to 1996. The Cobra-Huey upgrade program slowly is recovering from a near-death experience, when the Defense Department cited it for significant cost overruns and threatened to cancel it. The third has the new engine, drivetrain and rotor system, but retains the original AH-1W avionics and cockpit. Of the three AH-1Zs, only two are fully upgraded. Doug Isleib, program manager for the UH-1Y and AH-1Z. Between 180-200 refurbished AH-1W Cobras will be renamed AH-1Z.įive of the rebuilt aircraft already are flying in tests that will continue through 2004, said Marine Col. About 100 Hueys will change from the UH-1N to the UH-1Y configuration. Both the Cobra gunship and the Huey utility chopper will get new engines, digital glass cockpits, four-bladed rotors and the airframes will be rebuilt so they can fly 10,000 more hours. The upgrade to the Cobras is part of a broader effort to fix up the Corps’ Vietnam-era helicopter fleet. One of the three Abrams tanks the Marine Corps lost in Iraq was destroyed by friendly fire, specifically by a Hellfire anti-tank missile launched from a Cobra attack helicopter.Īvoiding such incidents of “blue-on-blue” fire is one reason why the Marine Corps wants to renovate its entire fleet of 200 Cobras and equip them with powerful targeting sensors that would allow pilots to positively identify targets out to the range of the Hellfire missile-approximately 5-8 km.
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