Timeline

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2004
  • Cancellation of Comanche
  • Publication of RFP
  • 2 November 2004, Boeing works to purchase production rights to Little Bird, subcontractors question ARH program goals. [1]
2005
  • 29 July 2005, Selection of Bell 407 proposal [2]
  • Award of production contract
  • 3 June 2005, first flight of demonstrator (s/n 53343/N91796)[3] [4]
  • 16 August 2005, increase in cost [5]
  • 1 September 2005, System Requirements Review completed by Army [6]
2006
  • February 2006, First flight of demonstrator with HTS-900-2 []
  • Ground run with HTS-900-2 (s/n 53903/N44515)
  • 20 July 2006, First flight of prototype (s/n 53904/N44548) []
  • 12 October 2006, Army expressed desire to increase aircraft purchased by 120 [7]
  • 17 October 2006, Army officials discuss ARH program at AUSA convention. DOD felt 36-month development was too compressed, funded for 54-months, pushing first unit fielding to July 2009. Congress cuts initial purchase to 32 from 38. [8]
  • Delays
2007
  • January/February 2007, Elbit System's North American subsidiary EFW wins contract for ANVIS/HUD-24t helmet system [9] (date needs resolving, article identifies slippage of program to July 2009)
  • January/February 2007, program slips a year behind schedule [10]
  • 21 February 2007, Crash of prototype #4 (s/n 53906/N445HR) [11]
  • 22 March 2007, Stop Work notice and effects [12][13]
  • 20 April 2007, Bell submits plan to Army to continue program [14]
  • 15 May 2007, Boeing revises offer to produce AH-6, claiming they can meet performance and timeline requirements for current contract with Bell [15]
  • 18 May 2007, Army decides to continue ARH development [16]
  • August 2007, Continued development []
  • 11 September 2007, Senate approves full funding for revised ARH schedule [17]
  • 9 November 2007, Army awards contract to Raytheon for Common Sensor Payload (CSP) program to replace FLIR Systems' Brite Star II on ARH-70 [18][19]
  • 13 November 2007, achieved 1,000 flight hours in 15 months. [20]
2008
  • Nunn-McCurdy breach []
  • 16 October 2008, Cancellation []