Army Aviation: Modernization Strategy Needs to Be Reassessed.

Of the 6.2 billion the Army plans to spend on aviation modernization during fiscal years 1995-1999, 4.7 billion, or about 76 percent, will be spent on two helicopter programs-the Comanche and the Longbow Apache. However, significant changes have occurred in the threat environment and in the force structure that could substantially change the number and mix of helicopters the Army needs to buy. The Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Armed Services Committee, requested that GAO review how the Army is modernizing its aviation force, in particular its attack and reconnaissance helicopters. GAOs objectives were to determine whether 1 the Armys plan for modernizing its aviation fleet is still valid, 2 there are alternative aircraft systems to the ones the Army plans to acquire, and 3 the Armys funding plans include all of the helicopter systems that it says it needs.