The US Army is hoping for supplemental funding for additional wartime replacement aircraft as it works to keep the Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopter line rolling until production of the Block III aircraft begins in 2010.
The remanufacture of additional AH-64As to the D standard for the US Army and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will also help close the two-year gap caused by delays in awarding the Block III contract.
The Apache line in Mesa, Arizona has slowed to three aircraft a month following the completion of 501 remanufactured AH-64Ds for the US Army, and is being kept open by production of new helicopters for Greece and Kuwait. Boeing is now under contract to produce 16 new-build AH-64D Apache Longbows for delivery to the US Army between March 2007 and September 2008, and expects a contract by December for another 11 to be delivered between December 2008 and September 2009.
Congress is considering supplemental funding for a further 17 wartime replacement aircraft, says the US Army, with these to bring the total number of new-build AH-64Ds to 44 and close the production gap. Boeing says the army had lost 52 of its Apaches through attrition by April 2006.
In addition, Boeing expects to sign a three-year contract in November to remanufacture a further 96 AH-64As to the D standard for the US Army, plus 30 aircraft for the UAE. "This is the first time a multi-year contract has included foreign military sales," says David Almond, Boeing's US Army Apache programme manager. Deliveries will be complete by May 2010.
■ Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman joint venture Longbow has received a $125 million contract to produce 30 fire-control radars for the UAE's AH-64Ds and seven for the US Army.
Source: Flight International
