Why did the Comanche helicopter fail?

The definition of a camel is, “a horse designed by committee.” Except in this case, half the committee was designing a horse and the other half was working on an electric guitar. read more

Yes, Comanche was going to be awesome, but it clearly did not achieve the full level of awesomeness envisioned in 1982. Some interesting and important technologies came out of the program, but no actual helicopters did. The partially designed system turned out to be unnecessary, unaffordable and unworkable. read more

WASHINGTON — In a dramatic about-face, the Army canceled its Comanche helicopter program Monday after sinking $6.9 billion and 21 years of effort into producing a new-generation chopper. It is one of the biggest program cancellations in the Army’s history and comes less than two years after the service’s $11 billion Crusader artillery project was dropped after $2 billion had been spent. read more