European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Los Angeles times he world s largest hol Copler Hoot the . Army s Lorca of 8.240 choppers and the military Doc nne justifying ils ski Slanco. Are hovering Between a stall and a climb Why i his is so and he dilemma it presents itt Strate what the armed services will be lacing of the rest of president Reagan s Ormas they scale Down live ear plans loft tighter budgets and reassess strategy to match weaponry they will have in the 1990s. When Reagan came to office in 1981, i Here was lit he dispute in Congress or the Pentagon that he army needed o do som Elhag about its helicopter Fleet. Most of the aircraft were built for the Vietnam War and would be too old to Fly in the 1990s, unless like the air Force 8-52 bombers they were continually rebuild. The helicopter had come into its own As a Ivai machine everybody seemed to agree Between the korean and Vietnam wars from just an ambulance to transport wounded to Mash Type Field hospitals in Korea in the 1950s, the Chc Upter had become a vehicle 1o bring my and lir Power to Bear at a critical spot at a critical moment As Well As to evacuate bounded during Billle in Vietnam. Army Navy air Force and Marino sch Corlors flow 36 million sorties one aircraft to the target and Back to Tiro machine guns and rockets at the Viet Congo hopscotch infantry around the Countryside and to perform reconnaissance and Rescue. Wilh comparatively primitive weapons mostly Niles the enemy shot Down More than 2,000 helicopters during the conf cd a total of 1,069 helicopter pilots wore killed by hostile fire and accidents inspired by the mobility the helicopter offered and confronted with Superior numbers of Warsaw pact tanks and other armoured vehicles the army folo a so Ialey called Arland Battle for nato forces to win a land War in Europe airland Battle Calls for finding the enemy s soil spots particularly behind the front lines hitting them quickly Wilh troops and firepower and Ihnn making a Hasty exit to fight someplace else. The helicopter is essential to maximize the potential of Lifland  said maj. Gen. Ellis d. Parker commander of the . Army aviation Center Al fort Rucker Ala. Wilh the helicopter Tho terrain slops being your enemy and becomes your Friend " in addition to scouting and delivering soldiers and projectiles to weak Points in the enemy s Force he said. It enables commanders to synchronize men Lanks and firepower in the air and on the ground. In a Contention some specialists dispute Parker said army helicopters will be Able to survive on the modern Battlefield with new tactics that feature staying hidden by sticking close to Earth and popping up lot Only a few seconds to lire antitank missiles. Undersecretary of the army James r. Ambrose an industrialist agreed at the outset of the Reagan buildup that the army should earmark $40 billion to $60 billion for a new Fleet of helicopters but did not want More of the old aluminium and rivals types still being manufactured. Mobility strategy tie us. Am intends to buy Only 675 ah-64 apaches because it wants a less vulnerable helicopter to carry out Fie airland Battle doctrine. Army chopper doctrine a stall he sold the army on trying a space age helicopter one made out of plastic and so automated and computerized that one Pilot instead of the usual two could take it to War in any kind of weather Day or night. The new helicopter known As the Lex would be a do everything machine firing weapons Over the Battlefield transporting troops and weapons scouting Forward areas and serving As an ambulance. Bui to buy the Lex and other weapons such As the fam tank the army had to Shelve plans to put More soldiers in uniform. Throughout the five years of 1he Reagan defense buildup the army has remained at 781,000 men and women. It was a Choice of hardware Over manpower one that because of the lean budget years ahead does not look As glittering in 19b6 As it did in 1981 the Lex is a prime example of a program started when hardware was being stressed but whose future is in doubt because of Congress change in attitude toward defense spending. The army estimates it would Cost $60 billion to buy the 5,000 a has needed of support the airland Bailie strategy. Sen Lowell p. Weicker or a Conn. Said there is no Way to get that much Money under the austere budgets ahead. The concerns of Weicker a member of the Senate appropriations committee typify those of Lex sceptics. He recently whole Ambrose that a general accounting office study of the army s helicopter plans raises some very fundamental questions regarding the army s ability to fulfil the goals established for Tho Lex program and or. Secretary Wicker continued you Are on record As saying that if Whoso goals Are not met then the program would be terminated and alternative helicopter programs would to pursued is thai still your position Ambrose when asked in an interview whether no thinks thai the army will gel enough Money to build the Lex and what to win do if it does not sat silently for a moment in his Pentagon office smiled and replied i m like the Guy in fiddler on the roof who asked himself where tradition came from and said i Don t know " the Gao in providing ammunition to shool Down the Lex focused on costs not Battlefield potential two of the army s most questionable assumptions Gao said arc that its procurement account will grow every your Lor the next 12 to 15 years and that other hardware programs would not eat into Money earmarked Tor the Lex. The army timetable Calls for the Lex to go into Lull scale development in 1987 and reach Peak production in 1997. Also Challenge Able the Gao said Are the army s assumptions that the Lex would be cheaper to Fly and maintain than today s choppers and that the service could do the same Job with fewer aircraft. Ambrose stressed that the army is studying alternatives to the Lex. He said it will make its decision on what to do about its aging helicopter Fleet in Timo to shape the defense budget sent to Congress next year. Ambrose is enthusiastic about the potential of building a new generation of helicopters. He said they could communicate with satellites or precise navigation and gunnery Fry and fight at nigh i and Hill tanks with missiles guided by laser beams. If critics do end up Downing the Lex the army most Likely will extend production of ils most modern attack and troops helicopters the ah-&4 Apache and uh-60 Blackhawk Tho army intends to buy Only 675 apaches partly because it wants a less vulnerable helicopter to carry out the airland Battle doctrine. If the army does Settle for building More of today s helicopters for the 1990s, army aviation enthusiasts contend that the soviets will open a Gap in attack helicopters army pilots interviewed predicted that both superpowers will be forced into building not Only new generations of tank killing helicopters but a new Breed of chopper to protect them. The age of the anti helicopter helicopter is fast approaching they said Complete with the kind of air to air missiles now found on fighter planes. The vision of helicopters f lighting each other on the Battlefield is so real to rep. William l. Dickinson r-aja., ranking Republican on the House armed services committee that he has warned the army that Congress will not provide Money for any new helicopters that Are not armed to shoo others Down. In ils first Hasty response to this new dimension of helicopter warfare the army this summer began jury rigging helicopters with stinger heat seeking missiles designed to be shot from the ground but adaptable to helicopters for air to air combat. The army also is training helicopter pilots to Light at night and employ Maneu vers to foil new antiaircraft missiles. Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday August 10,1986