US Army commanders in South Korea have called for a planned littoral detection capability for the Boeing AH-64D Block 3 Apache Longbow’s fire-control radar, say Boeing executives.
Boeing and Longbow radar supplier Northrop Grumman have been working to enhance the Block 3 Apache’s littoral detection capability using technology from the cancelled Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche programme.
South Korea and Taiwan have previously been discussed as likely export customers for the littoral detection capability, but this also now appears to be developing as an item of high interest among US forces. In South Korea, US army commanders want to use the AH-64 to detect fast attack boats operating along the country’s coastline. The US Navy, which is already investing $6.3 billion in the Bell UH-1Y/AH-1Z modernisation programme, also has expressed interest in the capability, requesting information from Boeing on the option of staging AH-64s on some of its ships, says Mike Burke, the company’s vice-president for business development.
The AH-64D’s mast-mounted millimetre-wave radar today has the ability to detect boat-sized objects – including non-metallic shapes – floating on water, but lacks the ability to classify these as boats or distinguish between a warship and a fishing trawler, says Burke.
The US Army plans to award Boeing a contract to develop the Block 3 Apache in May 2006, with the service planning to field the new aircraft beginning in 2010. The Block 3 upgrade will introduce a total of 26 technology enhancements, although most of these will be aimed either at “buying back” power with a new engine and transmission or connecting the Apache’s cockpit and sensors to other ground and air nodes on the US military’s future Global Information Grid.
Later this year, the army plans to demonstrate the in-flight capability of the Block 3’s cockpit system architecture, which will be compatible with communications standards included in its Future Combat Systems.
Boeing has meanwhile started to build the tools needed to produce a new composite rotor blade for the Block 3 Apache. To provide a major performance improvement over the aircraft’s current rotor, the enhanced design underwent flight test in 2004.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE/WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
