Though the OH-13 Sioux (better known as the Bell 47) proved to be a usable helicopter, the United States military began to search for a replacement in 1960. The specifications they had in mind for a new helicopter was one that could serve in many different types of missions. It would also have to be cheap to produce, easy to maintain. and have high performance. After a long hard competition, the OH-6 won the contest with the army starting to order large numbers of the helicopters in 1965.

Even before having its baptism of fire, the OH-6 would begin to have an impact on the world of helicopters, scoring big in many different areas deemed important enough to judge helicopters and aircraft.

In 1966, the OH-6 helicopter would see combat action in Vietnam where it mainly functioned in a scouting role though it carried machine guns to defend itself. Most of the time, the OH-6s would operate in teams of the same type of helicopter or operate alongside AH-1 Cobra helicopters.

After Vietnam, it would operate in latter conflicts, mainly in operations conducted by US Special Forces. Among one of its notable conflicts was during the Battle of Mogadishu where OH-6s provided superb continuous assistance to US Special Forces as they fought to stay alive during the nearly 18 hours of the operation.

In 1998, a series of mysterious ship disasters began to occur in the oceans. After the destroyed hull of a Japanese fishing vessel washed up on the shores of Jamaica, scientists and officials from the United States military moved in quickly, with some of them flying in OH-6Ds, to investigate the remains in the hope that the latest wreck would provide clues as to the perpetrator of these incidents. They did find some clues but they would not make full sense of it until they arrived at New York.