Bell OH-58 Kiowa News

National Guard helicopters that spend hundreds of hours in the air during the growing season looking for clandestine marijuana grows could be on the ground more often next year under Obama administration budget proposals under protest by Oregon sheriffs and member of Congress.

Sean O'Keefe, chairman and chief executive of EADS North America, said the company has invested a significant amount of its own money to develop armed variants of the UH-72A Lakota that could help the Army upgrade or replace its aging fleet of Vietnam-era OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters.

The Army provided its Recruiting Command Aviation Adventure tractor-trailer, which is a self-contained, climate-controlled unit that contains several interactive exhibits.

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced that the U. S. Army's OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter fleet have accumulated 2 million flight hours.