Bell ARH-70 Arapaho

The Bell ARH-70 Arapaho is a four-bladed, single-engine, light military helicopter designed for the United States Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program. With a crew of two and optimized for urban combat, the ARH-70 was slated to replace the Army's aging OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.

Excessive delays and growth in program costs forced its cancellation on 16 October 2008, when the Department of Defense failed to certify the program to Congress. The ARH-70 was touted as having been built with off-the-shelf technology; the airframe was based on Bell's commercially successful Bell 407.

Development

Background and Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter competition

On 23 February 2004, the U.S. Army announced their decision to cancel the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program. The program had cost US$6.9 billion and 20 years of development without fielding a production aircraft. The cancellation was a result of a six-month Army study directed by Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker. The study recommended that by canceling the program before the Comanche reached production, the Army could save US$14 billion which could then be used to update and replace the aging airframes of the current fleet.