You are absolutely right about the excellent aspects of the Comanche’s design. I really wanted to see this thing in production. I have flown on the modified Blackhawk you referred to and it definitely incorporates many of the Comanche’s tech: enclosed canted tail rotor, radar absorbent material surfaces, faceted body,…

I can tell you the GPS coordinates are UAV-derived and the data fed into each individual weapon.

Yep. $7 Billion for 2 helicopters. Very sad. Program started near the beginning of Reagan’s first term and cancelled in 2005. The Comanche was just about the Army’s version of the F-35.

My uncle flew OH-6 Cayuse LOH “Loach” in Vietnam, where the application of the scout helicopter design really took off. Post-Vietnam, the massive budget cuts in the military led to the adoption of many commercial-off-the-shelf systems (COTS) as gapfillers until dedicated platforms could be developed, which led to the…

As a former Army officer, this video is silly. It is not “240 years of US Army Uniforms”, rather a sampling of uniforms spanning that period, or more likely the very few uniforms they could actually find to make their video. It’s a noble idea to depict all of our uniforms through the years, but is probably best…

I will grant this: The Ohio-Class SSGN conversions are amazing platforms, capable of doing everything asserted in the article. Except they don’t. As a retired Army officer with over 17 years with special operations, much of it Joint, I can tell you even the SEALs view this platform as far-fetched and untenable in lieu…

Ya.... who cares?

In the late 90’s a close friend, who was a US Army AH-64D Apache pilot, explained to me that the Army Aviation community petitioned for the creation of a helicopter demonstration team, focused primarily on the Apache, but including the Blackhawk, Kiowa Warrior and Little Bird as well. . The Army concluded that the…

I was with CJSOTF-AP in 2004 in Balad, Iraq. During both Fallujah 1 and 2, the Corps took a lot of casualties. Army medevac birds screamed into Balad all night long, always with Marine Super Cobras in escort. The Marines watch out for the own like no other (I was Army). I was touched and impressed by what I saw both…

US Special Operations Aviation assets have carried more capable weapons with them for decades. Though mostly helicopters and CV-22 Ospreys, I think it is prudent for pilots over denied areas to have more defensive capability. Originally, the 160th SOAR pilots had MP-5’s, but now they tend to have various modified AR…

@Mojonaut. I was a US Army officer for 23 years and have seen many named operations. At the very classified level, a computer selects names for programs, entities and missions randomly, never meant for public release. I have only rarely seen those leaked to the public. At the larger and more public level, the trend in…

I was 7 when this happened. Some of my earliest memories were of the Saigon evacuation (Operation Frequent Wind) and the helicopters crashing into the ocean or being pushed overboard to make more room. I didn’t understand at the time. Such a waste and sad imagery to end US involvement in Vietnam.

As a recently retired Army officer with 17+ years with USSOCOM, I can tell you this system is not liked by anyone. People refer to it as “the answer to the question nobody asked”. Special Operations Forces have no issues with resupply in recent/current conflict areas. The characteristics of the aircraft and limited…