Obama Admin taking Apache gunships away from National Guard units

Drones are much easier on pilots. And less aircraft to fight/defend against fed attack.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
The air national guard flies fighter jets. Fighter jets>helicopters. Seems like Alex jones type shit.
 
Drones are better for the feds since (I imagine) they are controlled by a non-terrestrial resource (satellites) that the populace cannot get to and can be shut down should the guard turn against the overlords.

BOOM!




(Bureau Of Officer Management)
 
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All of the services are taking the cushions off of the couch, looking for spare change, due to budget cuts. As I understand it, the reasoning goes as so:

The Army's scout helicopter, the OH-58, is wearing out. The Army had a program to replace it (Sikorsky Comanche), but that program became so outrageously expensive that the Army had to cancel it. Then the Army tried to replace the OH-58 using a much less sophisticated, "off-the-shelf", low-risk program, known as the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH). The ARH was based on the Bell 407, which is closely related to the OH-58 (both are variations of the Bell Jet Ranger). But the ARH program also went wildly over budget and was cancelled. In the meantime, war use of the OH-58s continued to cause accelerated wear. So the Army has to replace the OH-58 and they've got nothing.

So the Army's current plan is to retire the entire OH-58 fleet. What will they use to fill the scout helicopter role? They're taking the National Guard's Apaches to do the armed scout role. In return, they'll give the Guard more Blackhawks, which are arguably more useful to the National Guard than Apaches. Blackhawks are useful during natural disasters. Apaches? Not so much.

In addition, the Army's training helicopter, the TH-67, is also a Jet Ranger variant and is also wearing out. So the Army plans to take UH-72 Lakotas away from the Army and Guard units and give them to the Army training units as a replacement for the TH-67. While I understand taking the Apaches away from the Guard, using UH-72s for training is not something that I understand at all. The Bell Jet Ranger is a small, simple, single-engine helicopter that is economical to fly (well, economical in helicopter terms). Cost per hour for a Jet Ranger is around $700/hour. The UH-72 is a medium, complex, twin-engine helicopter that costs basically twice as much to fly as the Jet Ranger. How you save money by replacing something that costs $700/hr with something that costs $1400/hr is beyond me.

More info here: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131208/DEFREG02/312080003/US-Army-Plans-Scrap-Kiowa-Helo-Fleet
 
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No Apaches will mean less NG deployments as well

but good point with the UH- 60 replacing the Apache, far more useful for the NG
 
The air national guard flies fighter jets. Fighter jets>helicopters. Seems like Alex jones type shit.


Really? After this week's events in Nevada, you're still going there???

AJ isn't perfect, but same goes for you and me.

And M1911 provided the grounded financial and logistical reasons. But the ideas put forward in the OP's link are not without merit. I don't think that's the primary reason why the Army is doing what they're doing, but it certainly is a nice side benefit for them.
 
Obama took them away cuz the FEMA coffins can only be destroyed by them, so he's afraid the people will hijack the Apaches and destroy the coffins before he can fill them with bodies!

[rofl]
 
Yes. I got no love for .gov but this is a non event. They are not taking helicopters away from the national guard for fear of civil war.

Really? After this week's events in Nevada, you're still going there???

AJ isn't perfect, but same goes for you and me.

And M1911 provided the grounded financial and logistical reasons. But the ideas put forward in the OP's link are not without merit. I don't think that's the primary reason why the Army is doing what they're doing, but it certainly is a nice side benefit for them.
 
I'm sure if Obama had been giving Apache's to the national guard, we would be hearing about how he'll use them against citizens or something.

I'm sure blackhawks would be much more useful to the ANG than Apache's.
 
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