WI RAH 66 Commanche program is not terminated

In 2004 the RAH 66 Commanche program was cancelled by the US Army citing cost overruns, superseded operational role, and insurmountable technical problems. The funds saved from further development into the Commanche enabled the US Army Aviation to refresh their existing platforms, which was to prove a prudent decision with the continual deployments during the war on terror.

Now, what if the Commanche had a greater number of advocates that were able to save the program. How would the Commanche evolved over time, and would the aircraft have been exported as a way to reduce unit costs? How does the continued development impact upon the remaining rotary winged fleet employed by Army Aviation?

rah_66_comanche_by_rclarkjnr.jpg
 

Archibald

Banned
It fought the mighty Hulk in Ang Lee (very !) underated 2002 movie. So maybe it could have been part of the Avenger movies that started in 2008 ?

If it ever survives, it may become the Army rotary wing F-35 - it would burn an enormous amount of cash with troubed reliability and maintenance issues...
 

cpip

Gone Fishin'
It's a sexy, sexy beast from the outside.

Had it not been cancelled, I suppose it's possible that the British Army might have begun adopting it as a supplement to the Apaches they built under license, since Comanche was supposed to work in conjunction with Apache. Besides that, I might expect to see some of the usual suspects lining up for them -- Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia (if one buys it the others will), Japan, South Korea, and maybe India (these last three possibly building them under license).
 

Archibald

Banned
Hey, maybe I'm reading too much anti F-35 propaganda on War is boring. It looks as if David Axe has an axe to grind (muhahaha).
 
What did the US Army mean by "superceeded operational role?"

My suspicion is that RA-64 was cancelled to provide maintenance funding for helicopters already fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Helicopters are high-maintenance and have much shorter over-haul cycles than fixed-wing airplanes. They were also
Operating in hot, dusty, high altitudes that all increased wear on components. Finally they were fighting new and clever enemies who frequently changed tactics.
After a few years, Army National Guard, Army Reserve regiments and Marine Reserve units were gutted to provide airframes for Afghanistan and Iraq.
State-side Reserve units counted themselves if they eventually got over-hauled helicopters, but only if they were scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in the near future.
IOW regiments fighting in Iraq or "the 'Stan" we're first priority for freshly-overhauled helicopters, while state-side reserve units were priority-last. These same priorities also applied to the newest instrument and weapons upgrades.
 
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