R


ecent technological advance- ments are allowing Army aviation to provide an increase in efficiency, as well as new


capabilities for Soldiers. The work that the aviation community has done to drive down costs and achieve efficiencies “is exactly what we need to do, and we just need more work to obtain greater efficien- cies across a broad spectrum of aviation industry,” said LTG William N. Phillips, Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Lo- gistics, and Technology (ASAALT).


Phillips, citing DOD’s push to achieve or identify $100 billion in savings by FY16, noted Army aviation’s creation of a “solid plan.”


Multiyear contract approaches and other techniques for finding efficiencies have produced $450 million in savings for the CH-47F Chinook helicopter; $700 mil- lion (pending congressional approval) for the UH-60 Black Hawk; and $2.5 billion overall throughout aviation systems, Phil- lips said during the 2011 Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) Annual Professional Forum and Exposition, April 17-20 in Nashville, TN.


“One of our challenges for now and the future is to make sure that we take advan- tage of every dollar that the American taxpayer and Congress give us,” Phillips said.


HIGH OPERATIONAL TEMPO Having flown more than 4.5 million hours since 2003, the Army aviation community has an operational tempo (OPTEMPO) five times that of peacetime.


According to Phillips, the Army has 623 manned and unmanned aircraft in the- ater today. It delivered more than 250 new aircraft and 317 new unmanned


A S C . A RMY.MI L 49


aerial systems to the field in 2010 while maintaining mission readiness rates of approximately 84 percent across the fleet.


In the face of this high OPTEMPO, Phillips emphasized the importance of aviation reset. Reset efforts have benefited from the implementation of condition- based maintenance techniques and the use of diagnostic devices to track the health of an aircraft’s systems and elec- tronics, he said.


Phillips also noted the delivery of the 100th CH-47F Chinook aircraft, cur- rent construction of the first AH-64D Block III Apache aircraft, and fielding of new UH-60M Black Hawk and UH-72 Lakota helicopters. Over the past 12


100 CHINOOKS AND COUNTING


The Army recently took delivery of the 100th CH-47F Chinook helicopter aircraft, seen here on display during the 2011 Army Aviation Association of America Annual Professional Forum and Exposition in Nashville, TN in April. (U.S. Army photo by Kris Osborn, ASAALT.)


months, the Army has fielded 118 new Black Hawks and 54 new Lakotas.


These accomplishments come as the Army continues to develop an “aerial tier” for its tactical battlefield network, using technologies such as high-bandwidth waveforms, satellites, and software-pro- grammable radios to connect dismounted Soldiers across the force in real time to on-the-move vehicles and higher-echelon command posts, Phillips added.


Army aviation helps in thickening the combat network by hoisting tactical radios into the air and furthering their reach, such as with a Rifleman Radio inside an RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aer- ial System or in a Black Hawk.


ACQUISITION


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