Major General John Norton, commanding general of the Army Aviation Materiel Command (AMCOM),[28] received the first OH-58A Kiowa at a ceremony at Bell Helicopter's Fort Worth plant in May 1969. Two months later, on ngày 17 tháng 8 năm 1969, the first production OH-58A Kiowa helicopters were arriving in South Vietnam,[29] accompanied by a New Equipment Training Team (NETT) from the Army and Bell Helicopters.[30] Although the Kiowa production contract replaced the LOH contract with Hughes, the OH-58A did not automatically replace the OH-6A in operation. Subsequently, the Kiowa and the Cayuse would continue operating in the same theater until the end of the war.

Chiến tranh Vietnam

On ngày 27 tháng 3 năm 1970, an OH-58A Kiowa (s/n 68-16785) was shot down over South Vietnam, one of the first OH-58A losses of the war. The pilot, Warrant Officer Ralph Quick, Jr., was flying Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Benoski, Jr. as an artillery spotter. After completing a battle damage assessment for a previous fire mission, the aircraft was damaged by.51 cal (13 mm) machine gun fire and crashed, killing both crew members. Approximately 45 OH-58A helicopters were destroyed during the Vietnam War due to combat losses and accidents.[31] One of the last combat losses was of an OH-58A (s/n 68-16888) from A Troop, 3-17th Cavalry, flown by First Lieutenant Thomas Knuckey. On ngày 27 tháng 5 năm 1971, Lieutenant Knuckey was also flying a battle damage assessment mission when his aircraft came under machine gun fire and exploded. Knuckey and his observer, Sergeant Philip Taylor, both died in the explosion.[32]

Chiến dịch Prime Chance

In early 1988, it was decided that armed OH-58D (AHIP) helicopters from the 118th Aviation Task Force would be phased in to replace the SEABAT (AH-6/MH-6) teams of Task Force 160th to carry out Operation Prime Chance, the escort of oil tankers during the Iran–Iraq War. On ngày 24 tháng 2 năm 1988, two AHIP helicopters reported to the Mobile Sea Base Wimbrown VII, and the helicopter team ("SEABAT" team after their callsign) stationed on the barge returned to the United States. For the next few months, the AHIP helicopters on the Wimbrown VII shared patrol duties with the SEABAT team on the Hercules. Coordination was difficult, but despite frequent requests from TF-160, the SEABAT team on the Hercules was not replaced by an AHIP detachment until June 1988.[33] The OH-58D helicopter crews involved in the operation received deck landing and underwater survival training from the Navy.

In November 1988, the number of OH-58D helicopters that supported Task Force 118 was reduced. However, the aircraft continued to operate from the Navy's Mobile Sea Base Hercules, the frigate Underwood, and the destroyer Conolly. OH-58D operations primarily entailed reconnaissance flights at night, and depending on maintenance requirements and ship scheduling, Army helicopters usually rotated from the mobile sea base and other combatant ships to a land base every seven to fourteen days. On ngày 18 tháng 9 năm 1989, an OH-58D crashed during night gunnery practice and sank, but with no loss of personnel. When the Mobile Sea Base Hercules was deactivated in September 1989, all but five OH-58D helicopters redeployed to the continental United States.[34]

Chiến tranh Vùng vịnh

During Operation Desert Storm, 115 deployed OH-58D helicopters participated in a wide variety of critical combat missions and were vital to the success of the ground forces mission. During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the Kiowas flew nearly 9,000 hours with a 92 percent fully mission capable rate. The Kiowa Warrior had the lowest ratio of maintenance hours to flight hours of any combat helicopter in the war.[35]

RAID

In 1989, Congress mandated that the Army National Guard would take part in the country's War on Drugs, enabling them to aid federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with "special congressional entitlements". In response, the Army National Guard Bureau created the Reconnaissance and Aerial Interdiction Detachments (RAID) in 1992, consisting of aviation units in 31 states with 76 specially modified OH-58A helicopters to assume the reconnaissance/interdiction role in the fight against illegal drugs. During 1994, 24 states conducted more than 1,200 aerial counterdrug reconnaissance and interdiction missions, conducting many of these missions at night.[36] Eventually, the program was expanded to cover 32 states and consisting of 116 aircraft, including dedicated training aircraft at the Western Army Aviation Training Site (WAATS) in Marana, Arizona.[37]

The RAID program's mission has now been expanded to include the war against terrorism and supporting U.S. Border Patrol activities in support of homeland defense. The National Guard RAID units' Area of Operation (AO) is the only one in the Department of Defense that is wholly contained within the borders of the United States.[37]

Operation Just Cause and action in the 1990s

During Operation Just Cause in 1989, a team consisting of an OH-58 and an AH-1 were part of the Aviation Task Force during the securing of Fort Amador in Panama. The OH-58 was fired upon by Panama Defense Force soldiers and crashed 100 thước Anh (90 m) away, in the Bay of Panama. The pilot was rescued but the co-pilot died.[38]

On ngày 17 tháng 12 năm 1994, Army Chief Warrant Officers (CWO) David Hilemon and Bobby Hall left Camp Page, South Korea on a routine training mission along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Their flight was intended to be to a point known as Checkpoint 84, south of the DMZ "no-fly zone", but the OH-58C Kiowa strayed nearly bốn dặm (6 km) into the Kangwon Province, inside North Korean airspace, due to errors in navigating the snow-covered, rugged terrain. The helicopter was shot down by North Korean troops and CWO Hilemon was killed. CWO Hall was held captive and the North Korean government insisted that the crew had been spying. Five days of negotiations resulted in the North Koreans turning over Hilemon's body to U.S. authorities. The negotiations failed to secure Hall's immediate release. After 13 days in captivity, Hall was freed on 30 December, uninjured.[39][40]

Afghanistan and Iraq

The U.S. Army has employed the OH-58D during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.[41][42] Due to combat and accidents, over 35 airframes have been lost, with 35 pilots killed.[43] Their presence has also been anecdotally credited with saving lives, having been used to rescue wounded despite their small size.[44] In Iraq, OH-58Ds flew 72 hours per month, while in Afghanistan, they flew 80 hours per month.[45] In 2013, Bell stated that the OH-58 had 820,000 combat hours, and 90% mission capable rate.[46]

Retirement

The first attempt to replace the OH-58 was the RAH-66 Comanche of the Light Helicopter Experimental program, which was canceled in 2004. Airframe age and losses led to the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program to procure a new aircraft, the Bell ARH-70, which was later canceled in 2008 due to cost overruns. The third replacement effort for the OH-58 was the Armed Aerial Scout program.[47] Due to uncertainty in the AAS program and fiscal restraints, planned retirement of the OH-58F Kiowa was extended from 2025 to 2036.[48] The Kiowa's role as a scout aircraft was supplemented by tactical unmanned aerial vehicles, the two platforms often acting in conjunction to provide reconnaissance to expose crews to less risk. The OH-58F had the ability to control UAVs directly to safely perform scout missions.[45] In 2011, the Kiowa was scheduled to be replaced by the light version of the Future Vertical Lift aircraft in the 2030s.[49]

In December 2013, the U.S. Army had 338 Kiowas in its active-duty force and 30 in the Army National Guard. The Army considered retiring the Kiowa as part of a wider restructuring to cut costs and reduce the various types of helicopters in service. The Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) for the AAS program found that the Kiowa operating alongside RQ-7 Shadow UAVs was the most affordable and capable solution; it also said that the AH-64E Apache Guardian was the most capable "immediate" solution for the scout helicopter role. It was proposed that all OH-58s be divested and all Army National Guard and Army Reserve Apaches would be transferred to the active Army to serve as scouts. The Apache costs 50 percent more than the Kiowa to operate and requires more maintenance; studies showed that if the Apache had been used in place of the Kiowa in Iraq and Afghanistan, total operating costs would have been $4 billion greater, but would save $1 billion per year in operating and sustainment costs. UH-60 Black Hawks would be transferred from the active fleet to reserve and Guard units. The proposal aimed to retire older helicopters to save money and retain those with the greatest capabilities.[50] The 2010 AoA that found that Apaches teamed with UAVs was the optimal choice; with a reduced service size a total of 698 Apaches could fill the role. Funds for Apache upgrades would be released from the Kiowa's termination.[51] Media expects the OH-58s to go to foreign military rather than civilian operators due higher operating cost.[52]

The Army placed 26 out of 335 OH-58Ds in non-flyable storage during 2014. In anticipation of divesting the Kiowa, the Army looked to see if other military branches, government agencies, and foreign customers would be interested in buying the aircraft. The Kiowas are considered in a good price range for foreign countries with limited resources. Bell has not yet agreed to support the helicopters if sold overseas.[53] Tính đến năm 2015[cập nhật], the Army had divested 33 OH-58Ds.[54] By January 2016, the Army had divested all but two OH-58D squadrons, with the aircraft to finish divestiture before the end of the year.[55] In April 2016, two Kiowa squadrons with a combined 60 helicopters were in service.[56] In June 2016, members of 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, arrived in South Korea as part of the Kiowa's last deployment in U.S. Army service.[57] In January 2017, the last Kiowa Warrior performed their last live fire maneuver before their retirement.[58] In 2017, in response to issues with the UH-72A training helicopter transition, the U.S. Army announced that OH-58 Kiowas will continue as trainers until 2022 at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.[cần dẫn nguồn]

As a consequence of the 2013 Aviation Restructure Initiative, some 340 divested U.S. Army OH-58D Kiowas were made available through Excess Defense Article and foreign military sales (FMS) programs. In November 2014, Croatia sent a letter of intent for the acquisition of 16 OH-58Ds.[59] In 2016, Croatia and Tunisia became the first nations to request the helicopters, ordering 16 and 24, respectively.[60][61] Croatia received the first batch of 5 OH-58Ds at the Zadar-Zemunik air base on ngày 30 tháng 6 năm 2016.[62][63]

In March 2020, the U.S. Army selected the Bell 360 Invictus and Sikorsky Raider X as part of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program to fill the capability gap left by the retirement of the OH-58.[64][65] On ngày 9 tháng 7 năm 2020, the US Army retired its last OH-58s from active service at Fort Polk.[3]