Author Topic: Army, National Guard Fight Over Apache Helicopters  (Read 769 times)

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Online Pandora

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Army, National Guard Fight Over Apache Helicopters
« on: April 17, 2014, 11:47:19 PM »
The Army National Guard is pushing back against a plan to send all of its 192 Apache attack helicopters to the active duty Army.

Quote
In exchange, the Guard and Reserve components would receive 111 UH-60 Blackhawk transport and utility helicopters from the Army in a broader aviation restructuring after more than a decade of combat and steep budget cuts.

The restructuring would also eliminate three of 13 combat aviation brigades from the Army, while the Guard would phase out its entire fleet of OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters, which have been in use for nearly five decades.

...  Some argue the helicopter swap is needed because the Blackhawk is better suited for natural disaster recovery operations, which Guard units are tasked to do. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Co., said the Blackhawks were instrumental during recent flooding in his state. “In Colorado, we benefited greatly from having National Guard Blackhawks available to perform search and rescue missions, evacuate flood victims, drop water on wildfires, even deliver hay to cattle stranded by blizzards. Have Apaches ever been used for those purposes, and wouldn’t it make sense to have those utility aircraft available to governors for in-state missions?”

“The main mission of those Apaches,” Grass said, “is to be the combat reserve of the Army.”

There are currently nine states where the National Guard flies Apaches.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has introduced a bill to block the Apache transfer. “There were times during Operation Iraqi Freedom when the Army National Guard represented 50 percent of the Army’s combat power,” Wilson said in a statement on his website. Both Guard and Reserve troops have accounted for nearly a third of the nation’s more than 2.5 million service members who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Nearly 10,000 Guard or Reserve members have deployed more than five times, according to Defense Department data.

Wilson’s bill, which currently has the support of 41 Democrats and 111 Republicans, also calls for a commission to study the proposed changes—a measure Odierno says he sees no need for.

H/T jpsfudimo

"They" don't want the states to have Apache-type capabilities, period.
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Offline trapeze

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Re: Army, National Guard Fight Over Apache Helicopters
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2014, 02:57:33 AM »
I hate to admit that I sort of agree that the states probably would have more of a use for the Blackhawks than the Apaches. I don't agree that they need to turn all of them over but if they were lacking in Blackhawks then it might make sense to swap a certain percentage of them. They used to have Hueys but I guess that most of them have been retired.

In the end it really won't matter much because they will eventually come for us with drones and Hellfire missiles.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline Libertas

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Re: Army, National Guard Fight Over Apache Helicopters
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2014, 07:30:06 AM »
I agree, they are more concerned with Guard units having attack helos than in doing anything sensible concerning overall force structure.

Not knowing what Guard units in what states would be loyal to the people or the state should shat hit the fan...it may be a push overall.

In the end the Feds usually get their way...and nothing will change the dynamic between the principles either way with respect to the inevitable.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.