The Army’s newest version of the Boeing [BA] AH-64 Apache, the E- model, nicknamed Guardian, heads toward full-rate production in January, while the D-model production line heads toward closure this fall.
“Full-rate production deliveries (for the E model) will begin in FY ’14 and they’ll run through FY ’27, so we still have several years of production to reach our total of 690 for the Army’s inventory,” Col. Jeff Hager, project manager, Apache Attack Helicopters, said in a recent media briefing.
“As the Apache project continues, we have already taken delivery of 33 AH-64E aircraft thus far within our inventory,” he said. “We still have a requirement for 56 new-build aircraft,” with new airframes and components, which will bring the total Apache inventory to 690 aircraft.
The E model is a combination of remanufactured and rebuilt aircraft. The first 43 airframes are remanufactured and reused in the production line. However, from ship set 44 on there will be brand new fuselages.
The first 43AH-64E helicopters are being built under a Low-Rate Initial Production contract.
“The Army is right now in the process of contracting the new build aircraft for FY 2013,” Hager said. The current plan was to build 40 remanufactured aircraft in FY 13 and eight new build aircraft in FY ’13. The additional 48 new build aircraft were moved outside the current POM (Program Objective Memorandum) period that runs to FY ’18. For FY ’19 and beyond, the Army will look at those numbers again.
“We’ve remained with the total number of 690 aircraft; they were just moved out of the current POM, a decision made by Army leadership,” Hager said.
The First Unit Equipped with the Echo model Apache is the First of the 229th at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM), Wash.
“We are currently in a flurry of good activity of fielding aircraft, delivering them to Washington JBLM, they’re undergoing pilot training, they’re undergoing maintainer training, all to accept those new aircraft.
In March, the 2,000th airplane was delivered from the Boeing facility, Hager said.
There are only 1,100 Apaches worldwide, said David Koopersmith, vice president Attack Helicopter Programs and Mesa Senior Site Executive for Boeing. Some of the parts and airframes are going through the production line for the third time–first as A models, then being remanufactured into D models, now being remanufactured into E models–a “fabulous cost savings for the taxpayer and the U.S. Army.”
The AH-64 D program continues, but “we’re going to sunset that production line” this year, likely around September, Hager said. After that, only the AH-64E will be produced.
Koopersmith said, “It’s bittersweet.” The last international D model comes off the production line next month; the rest will be for the United States.
“Nominally 50 percent of the U.S. Army fleet will be D models through late 2020,” Koopersmith said. “We’ll continue to sustain and fight with lot of D models thru 2025-2026…”
Modernization essentially never stops, Hager said. For example, units returning from deployment meet with project office and Boeing staff, and let them know what can be done to make the aircraft better, from small software upgrades, to moving controls, to sensors that would help in the future. And a lot of those changes have been made.
In another area, Apache has been taking part in maritime operations, because the Army wants an overwater capability. That means fire control radar improvements.
The radar on Apache today primarily looks at airborne and ground targets, Hager said. The Army wants to improve the radar’s ability to see seaborne targets and properly identify them.
Boeing and Hager’s team heard first hand from the 3rd of the 159th that had spent time on U.S. Navy ships.
As international customers have already demonstrated with their own Apache helicopters, “Apache at sea is as lethal as it is on land,” Koopersmith said. The team is learning more about operating with the Navy and ways to continue to improve the weapons system.
Mike Burke, director of business development for Attack Helicopters at Boeing, said there’s a lot of international interest in the new Apache E model. “They pay attention to how we operate the Apache, and ask about buying it. International sales, he added, hold down the cost to the customer.
In welcome home ceremonies, the Army and Boeing hear a lot about the relationship of the Apache and Army aviation to ground soldiers. In many instances, Burke said, soldiers search out Apache crew and thank them for the effect of the attack helicopter. When other aircraft are flying, Burke related, soldiers hear the enemy shooting at them. When they hear an Apache, “everything goes quiet.”