Voelker had sought out the sweeping expanses of the southern Plains, home to the Comanche Nation.
The self-propelled artillery system was called Crusader, and the armed scout helicopter was called Comanche.
Depp took the image to the film's Comanche adviser, William "Two-Raven" Voelker, to ask if it was far-fetched.
The company is led by retired aerospace scientists who helped develop the Stealth bomber, Gulfstream II and Comanche helicopter.
There is perhaps no horse which embodies those virtues quite like Comanche.
Martin came out of retirement two years ago to oversee the development of three new helicopters, including the long-anticipated Comanche.
Two days after the clash which killed hundreds of combatants, Comanche was discovered on the battlefield -- badly injured, but alive.
Severe weather Wednesday evening damaged a Goodyear tire plant and other buildings around Lawton, Oklahoma, Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley said.
Tsosie said other tribes have teased the Comanche for making Depp an honorary member but doesn't believe Depp is ignorant of American Indian culture.
The production even hired a Comanche adviser, making it decidedly a Comanche story, and received the blessing of other tribes through ceremonies during filming.
"There are a lot of people out there screaming who are not Comanche, as in this story Tonto is supposed to be, " Voelker said.
As for Comanche, the Army assured legislators its next effort to buy a reconnaissance helicopter would use a modified commercial rotorcraft costing much less.
Designed to complement Boeing's Apache attack helicopter, the lesser-armed Comanche will operate up to four unmanned drones that fly ahead to scout for enemy targets.
The production also visited Oklahoma to hear the Comanche language being spoken and worked with Voelker and others to give Depp Comanche lines in the movie.
Today, long after the soldiers who rode him have turned to dust, Comanche's taxidermy body remains standing to attention at Kansas University's Natural History Museum.
While Crusader and Comanche were stumbling towards oblivion, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki began a far more ambitious modernization initiative that was expected to definitively answer the need for greater agility.
If a Comanche does get spotted, it will be hard to hit: It flies backwards and sideways at 80 knots, and its digital display gives the pilot specific maneuvers to avoid missiles.
The teepees used in the movies, for example, have four poles to reflect the way the Comanche built them, not three more commonly seen in movies and that trace back to Cheyenne and Sioux tribes.
"Comanche stands for many more things than being the lone survivor on the Cavalry side -- he stands for the relentless march of the European settlers across the great plains and the war against the Indians, " said Leonard Krishtalka, director of the Biodiversity Institute at Kansas University.
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