Flight International online news 13:00 GMT: The government of Kuwait has accepted its first AH-64D Apache Longbow multi-role combat helicopter from Boeing.
This is the first of a 16 Apache foreign military sales order with the U.S. Department of Defence for the Kuwaiti government. The initial aircraft will remain in the United States until next year to undergo a series of qualification tests.
Maintenance personnel from Kuwait are currently in the U.S. for training, and will be followed by Kuwaiti pilots later this year. No firm in-country delivery schedule or contract details have been announced.
Kuwait 's ministry of defence initially signed a letter of offer and acceptance with the DoD in 2002, making Kuwait the seventh international defence force to select the AH-64D and the 11th Apache customer worldwide.
According to Boeing, The AH-64D Apache Longbow features fully integrated avionics and weapons plus a state-of-the-art modem that transmits real-time, secure, digitized battlefield information to air and ground forces.
ROSS BENTLEY / LONDON
Source: Flight International
