US Army Armed Aerial Scout program

The aim of the program was the replacement of the OH-58 Kiowa which was first introduced into service in 1968. This was supposed to be the RAH-66 Comanche but after spending nearly $7 billion the aircraft was cancelled

The second attempt was the Bell ARH-70A Arapaho which was the winning of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program in 2005. After excessive delays and growth costs the Arapaho was cancelled too in 2008. In 2010 the US Army introduced a new variant in the OH-58 fleet: the OH-58F Kiowa Warrior CASUP was designed to extend the operational service life of the model through 2025.

A new competition was launched, the Armed Aerial Scout or AAS, but on April 2013, new budget cuts freezes the Army program again and the CASUP was cancelled on January 2014. Kiowas were finally retired and replaced in the trainer role by new built Lakotas and in the scout mission by a reorganization of the Apache fleet.

By 2016, the US Army is searching its future helicopter under the US Army Joint Multi-Role (JMR) / Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program