By John C. Milliman
PMA-276 Public Affairs Officer

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD – In giving the H-1 Upgrades program here a go ahead today to start Low-Rate Initial Production, the Defense Acquisition Board marked a major accomplishment and milestone for the program that’s upgrading the Marine Corps’ fleet of aging light attack and utility helicopters.

The decision specifically gives the approval for Bell to remanufacture six UH-1N Huey and three AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters to the UH-1Y and AH-1Z standard during FY04 at an approximate cost of $202 Million.

A second LRIP lot, currently scheduled to be another six Hueys and three Super Cobras, should enter production in FY05. Producing a relatively small number of aircraft in the first two lots allows the program to incorporate any additions or lessons learned from the final developmental flight testing and operational evaluations that will be happening as the LRIP lots are being produced into production aircraft without disruption to the production line.

“This is a huge milestone for us as we transition from being a developmental program to actually delivering aircraft to the fleet,” said Col. Doug Isleib, program manager for the Marine Corps’ Light/Attack Helicopter Program (PMA-276). “The program successfully completed all the evolutions leading to approval by Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) to proceed with our first production lot of aircraft.”

Far from being automatic, this approval follows a series of hard looks the program has been given since being rebaselined and certified “affordable and executable” under the Nunn-McCurdy Act in May 2002.

Usually, programs under consideration by the DAB must make formal presentations to the assembled board. The H-1 Upgrades Program, however, in a sign of its success received its approval via a “paper” DAB.

“Normally we would brief the DAB,” explained NAVAIR’s Jay Stratakes, deputy program manager for the H-1 program. “Because we’ve had such a tremendous turnaround over the past year and a half resulting in so few issues remaining, the DAB elected to approve us by merely having it’s members review our status without actually gathering formally.”

“My team has had to overcome some big technical and programmatic obstacles over the last year and a half and I’m proud as can be,” Isleib said. “It’s a great time to be the H-1 program manager!”

Before the production lines could start cutting metal, though, the DAB was specifically interested in several key areas of the program: Bell’s efforts to ensure a successful transition to production; continued success of the flight test program; and maintaining cost and schedule to the baseline set as a result of the Nunn-McCurdy program restructure.

“The program’s on a roll right now,” Isleib added. “The aircraft are performing great, Bell Helicopter as a company is making great strides and the Government/Bell team is really hitting its stride. We’re eager to get these tremendously upgraded platforms out to the Marines who need them.”

After remanufacture, the aircraft will feature the latest technology in rotor and drive train design, avionics, sensors and weapons. They also share approximately 84 percent of their parts, making them far more maintainable, supportable, survivable and deployable than today’s H-1 aircraft.

The Defense Acquisition Board is the Defense Department’s senior-level forum for advising the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) on critical decisions concerning major acquisition programs. The DAB is composed of senior DOD acquisition officials and is chaired by the USD(AT&L).

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serves as the vice chairman of the board and other principal members include the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller); Under Secretary of Defense (Policy); Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel & Readiness); Assistant Secretary of Defense (C3I); Director of Operational Test and Evaluation; Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation; secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; and the DAB Executive Secretary (Director, ARA).

The H-1 Upgrades integrated test team here currently has achieved more than 1,300 flight test hours with five aircraft (three AH-1Z and two UH-1Y test aircraft, of which all but one AH-1Z are production representative). The test aircraft have flown 220 knots, maneuvered from –0.4 to +3.5 g’s and been to the 10,000-foot altitude mark.

Far from resting on any laurels, the team continues an aggressive flight test schedule and is tracking towards its second operational assessment this winter. A year from now, the team is scheduled to conclude developmental flight testing and then give four of the five test aircraft to the Fleet for an operational evaluation.

One of the five, the first AH-1Z built, will instead go to NAVAIR China Lake for destructive live fire testing.

Following a successful OPEVAL, the program will again go before the DAB for approval to enter full-rate production. By 2014, the Marine Corps will have procured 100 UH-1Y Hueys and 180 AH-1Z Super Cobras.

Thanks to a production schedule that speeds UH-1Y production ahead of the AH-1Z’s, the Marines will soon be able to replace their aging UH-1N fleet. Introduced to the Fleet Marine Force in 1971 (with the last one delivered in 1977), the UH-1N has never had a service life extension.

Today’s nearly 30-year old UH-1N faces significant structural and dynamic component deficiencies due to fatigue and high operating times. The aircraft also suffers from degraded performance.

The UH-1Y provides significantly increased aircraft power margins, redesigned structural and dynamic components and a fully integrated, digital cockpit for efficient aircrew situation awareness.
As with the AH-1Z, the UH-1Y incorporates a fully integrated avionics system controlled by dual, redundant mission computers. The IAS synthesizes all aircraft functions, including communications, navigation, sensors, weapons, cockpit system controls, electronic warfare functions, and warnings, cautions and advisories.

While not as old as the UH-1N fleet, the current Cobra fleet, the AH-1W, faces growing obsolescence challenges on the modern, asymmetrical battlefield.

Due to the robustness of the basic design, though, the AH-1W still turned in an admirable performance as the most combat effective close air support helicopter platform in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to program officials.

Both H-1 aircraft have totaled more than 27 million flight hours since Oct. 20, 1956 when the “granddaddy” of all H-1’s, the XH-40, made its first flight. Since then, more than 16,000 H-1 helicopters have been produced by Bell and its licensees -- making it the most successful military aircraft in aviation history.

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