Boeing expects to sell 16 AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopters to Kuwait before 1998, but the foreign-military-sales deal may not cover the Longbow fire-control radar (FCR).
In September, the Clinton Administration disclosed that Kuwait is seeking to buy 16 AH-64Ds, 384 Hellfire missiles, spare engines and other related weapons and equipment worth an estimated $800 million.
The sale, however, may not include the Longbow millimetre-wave radar and associated RF Hellfire missile because the USAdministration has yet to clear Kuwait's purchase of the advanced weaponry. "An unresolved issue is US State Department release of that technology to the [Middle East] region," says an industry source.
Technology-transfer sensitivities have scuttled previous weapons transactions. An alternative offer involving an armed version of the Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk transport helicopter operated by US special operations forces was abandoned because of US Defense Department reluctance to provide the aircraft's advanced infra-red sensor to Kuwait.
The Netherlands and the UK are the only other Longbow Apache customers. The Royal Netherlands Air Force has ordered 30 AH-64Ds without the Longbow FCR. GKN Westland and Boeing will build 67 FCR-equipped WAH-64s powered by Rolls Royce-Turboméca RTM322s for the British Army Air Corps.
Boeing hopes to provide Turkey with as many as 150 AH-64Ds, but it faces the same issue in Turkey as in Kuwait. In principle, all NATO nations have been cleared to receive the full Longbow Apache system, but an order from Turkey must be approved by the Pentagon.
Israel, Japan, South Korea and Spain have asked for Longbow Apache information, and current AH-64A operators, including Greece, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have shown interest in having their A-model aircraft remanufactured to the D-model configuration.
Source: Flight International
