Armed Aerial Scout

Armed Aerial Scout
Project for	Armed scout helicopter
Issued by	United States Army
Outcome	Cancelled

The Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) was the planned replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa in United States Army service.

The Armed Aerial Scout program replaced the previous Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program, which chose the Bell ARH-70 Arapaho. An Analysis of Alternatives was conducted and a Request for Proposals was planned to be issued in 2014. The U.S. Army had until December 2012 to decide whether to proceed with the program. On 29 November 2012, Army officials decided to proceed with the Armed Aerial Scout program to acquire a new scout helicopter. On 8 January 2013, the Army began redrafting the presentation for the service’s vice chief of staff before they move ahead with a competition. Vice Chief of Staff General Lloyd Austin III requested more data from the voluntary flight demonstrations done on helicopter entries, as well as taking into account the pace of other technologies, such as unmanned capabilities and future sensors. The Army concluded that its decision for the AAS program would result in either a new development effort or a service life-extension program (SLEP) for the OH-58F Kiowa.

Evaluations of commercial off-the-shelf designs were made from voluntary flight demonstrations in 2012. The five candidates included the OH-58F Block II, AH-6i, AAS-72X/X+, MD 540F, and AW139M (used for demonstration, with AW169 AAS offered as candidate). The Sikorsky S-97 Raider was offered, but no prototype was available for demonstration. Army evaluations concluded that no current aircraft met requirements. A decision on the Armed Aerial Scout program was expected “in late summer or early fall” 2013. Boeing had attempted to stop MD Helicopters from offering its MD 540F in the program, as it shared the same airframe design as Boeing's AH-6. In July 2013, MD Helicopters was allowed to continue to promote its offering in the program.

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