Boeing can expect to sell Kuwait 16 AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters, worth an estimated $800 million, but it remains unclear whether the foreign-military-sales deal will include the APG-78 Longbow fire-control radar (FCR), say government officials.
At issue since late 1997 is whether the Kuwaiti Government would be cleared to receive the Longbow millimetre-wave radar and associated RF Hellfire missiles, which some consider too advanced to introduce in the Middle East. Others are worried that the advanced weaponry, which is just now being fielded by the US Army, might be compromised.
US Army Col Stephen Kee, the Apache project manager, says that "the letter of acceptance [LoA] is shortly to be signed. The last few meetings are taking place to ensure that the LOA is being drawn up properly. We are moving at the pace the Kuwaiti Government wants. The ball is really in their court."
He does not say, however, whether the technology-transfer issue has been completely resolved.
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, a policy endorsed by Kee.
The US Army plans to remanufacture 758 AH-64Ds and procure 227 APG-78 FCR kits. A five-year contract ramps up Apache remanufacturing from the current two a month to six at peak production, covering 232 aircraft through to 2002. Contract options cover the remaining 526, with deliveries as late as 2008 unless accelerated.
Kee says that there has been "considerable discussion" about a production speed-up, and that the proposal is wrapped up in the US Army's Aviation Modernisation Plan, which remains in draft form. "Discussions on Apache acceleration is still preliminary as we work out details on how to pay for all our aircraft programmes," says Kee.
Source: Flight International
