Bell ARH-70 Arapho of United States Army

Bell ARH-70 Arapho is a light military helicopter special designed for United States Army. The ARH means Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, this helicopter has four-bladed and powerful single-engine. The ARH-70 built to replace aged OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and its platform was based on Bell 407.

Unfortunately, this helicopter never went to United States Army, because on October 2008 Congress decided to stop the project. The main reason was excessive delays and growth in program cost, at the result Department of Defense failed to certify this program.

The ARH-70 has outstanding capabilities in the air, it able to carry Guns as well as Rockets as stock weapons. Not only the weapons, but also flight performance become significant issue here, this chopper able to carry payload up to 900 kg and superb cruising speed at 113 knots or equal to 209 kmh. The Arapho also has 300 km of flight range and can fly up to 6,000 m altitude. What a superb light attack helicopter.