YUMA PROVING
GROUND, Ariz. – The Operational Test Command recently completed a
limited user test of two armed reconnaissance
helicopters.
Designed to better identify stationary and moving
enemy targets during day and night reconnaissance
missions, the modified Bell 407 aircraft provided
data on the capabilities of on-board target
acquisition.
“The (target acquisition) allows the ARH pilots to
identify targets of military interest and
distinguish friend from foe,” Dave Laack, a test
officer for the Aviation Test Directorate, said.
The subsystem used a forward
looking infrared sensor and a color television to
recognize enemy targets for eight day and night
missions during operational testing.
The ARH is expected to replace the OH-58D Kiowa
Warrior, a Cold War-era aircraft built on an aging
Vietnam vintage airframe, George Van Riper, a test
officer with OTC’s Aviation Test Directorate, said.
The test team directed area reconnaissance missions
employing a team of two ARHs. Targets included
military and civilian vehicles with Soldiers and
civilians posing as anti-Iraqi forces.
Targets were positioned using tactical techniques
and a variety of conditions simulating Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
“Each flight mission trial lasts over an
hour-and-a-half each so we can also determine the
ARHs operational endurance,” Laack said.
Test officers and other team members tracked all
missions in a range operations center where data was
collected.
In addition to the aircraft, data was collected
using instrumentation located at the Laguna Army
Airfield.
“After the mission, the pilots filled out
questionnaires pertaining to how the ARH performs in
an operational setting,” Laack said.
Data is essential in assessing progress toward the
integration of other ARH subsystems.
Experimental test pilots from the Aviation Technical
Test Center, Fort Rucker, Ala., served as player
pilots for the ARH test.
Pilots received extensive training before the
operational test.
“Missions went quite well,” Van Riper said. “Yuma
Proving Ground and the range operations center
served as an excellent test facility.”
A second test will be scheduled in 2009.