U.S. Army vows to do better with next helicopter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Army Secretary Pete Geren said the service had learned important lessons from a canceled $6.2 billion armed reconnaissance helicopter led by Textron Inc Bell Helicopter unit.

"It's a case study in how things can go wrong," Geren said on Tuesday after a speech to the Center for National Policy, a Washington-based think tank.

"There were lessons learned for industry and government," Geren told Reuters after the event. "And we will do better this time." He did not elaborate on how the new program would differ.

The Pentagon canceled the Textron program last month after the cost of each helicopter soared nearly 70 percent to $14.5 million. Chief arms buyer John Young said it would be better to start from scratch than continue the existing program.

The Army is currently seeking industry input for a new Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program that will likely include offers from Boeing Co, Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp, AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS.

Army officials have said Bell was welcome to bid as well, but they noted that past performance would be a key factor in assessing bids in the new program.

On Tuesday, Geren said the Army still urgently needed a replacement for its OH-58D Kiowa Warrior fleet.

The Kiowas, now numbering 342, are the most heavily used Army helicopter in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the oldest.

The Army now plans to spend nearly $800 million make the existing Kiowa fleet "safe, suitable and reliable" and keep it operating until 2020 as a bridge to the next helicopter.

A senior Army official last month said the prime factor driving up Bell's costs had been the cost of labor and materials after the company dropped plans to manufacture the air frame in Canada and fly it to Texas for military outfitting.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)