The US Army's Boeing AH-64D Block III upgrade programme has taken a quantum leap forward with the "official" inaugural flight on 9 July of PVD 27, the first production prototype of the modernised Apache, set for entry into service in 2011.
Boeing on 5 July also began flight testing the Block III Apache's new performance enhancing composite main rotor blade design.
Although Boeing test pilots flew PVD 27 on 27 June, the company held the official ceremony at its Mesa, Arizona facility two weeks later, with army vice-chief of staff Gen Dick Cody in the front seat.
"We are on the cusp of something revolutionary in the way we fight," said Cody of the Block III's open avionics architecture capabilities, which will eventually allow Apache pilots to command and control Hellfire equipped Sky Warrior unmanned air vehicles.
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"Pilots will be scouting 50nm [90km] ahead of the aircraft and calling for weapons fire on targets," he adds. The flight is likely to be one of the last for Cody, an Apache-rated combat pilot who will retire on 4 August.
PVD 27, an avionics test aircraft, is one of five Block III Apaches that will participate in the development programme. In addition to a second avionics prototype, now in production, Boeing will build a third prototype to test options for the mast-mounted tactical common datalink or Longbow fire control radar.
A fourth, non-flying model will be used in part to test aircraft's new, stronger split-torque face gear main transmission. A fifth prototype will be used airborne structural tests.
Scott Rudy, Boeing's Block III Apache programme manager, says the composite rotor blade should provide an additional 227kg (500lb) lift at 6,000ft (1,830m) and 35°C (95°F), a design altitude and temperature reflective of conditions in Afghanistan.
The new Boeing-built blade is 15.2cm (6in) longer than the original, although it attaches to the same hub and can be used interchangeably with metal blades in the field.
Pilots had made three flights by 9 July, testing performance and handling qualities and finding no unwanted resonances. Rudy says the composite main rotor blade could be fielded as early as 2010 for existing Apaches in the field.
Source: Flight International
