By Ann Roosevelt
The first prototype flight of the Block III version of the AH-64 Apache helicopter is scheduled for July 9, according to Army and Boeing [BA] officials.
The Block III Apache was not designed for Apache battalion commanders, Mark Hayes, Army Training and Doctrine Command Capabilities Manager, said at the Army’s Quad A Army aviation conference April 7. “The Block III Apache has capability that is absolutely essential to an infantry ground maneuver commander so that he can dictate the pace on the battlefield out there so those individual soldiers out there are not at risk because the Block III Apache will see farther, shoot more accurately and, more important than that, it will deliver situational awareness down to the company and troop level–that young man or woman out there on the battlefield doesn’t have to run into unexpected trouble–and they will absolutely own the day regardless of who you fight.”
Making the “world’s best attack helicopter better” is vital, Army Apache Project Manager Col. Derek Paquette said. “Our adversaries are certainly investing in anti-helicopter technology.”
Block III investment was made possible in part from the 2004 cancellation of the Boeing-Sikorsky [UTX] RAH-66 Comanche helicopter (Defense Daily, Feb. 24, 2004).
“Block III will do everything the Comanche could do on the digital battlefield. The only thing it doesn’t bring to the warfight is low observable,” Paquette said. “I can’t make it any skinnier. I’m sorry.”
Paquette said the results of an analysis of operational performance showed “we were 28 times more effective” primarily in lethality and survivability with the Longbow than the A model. The Block III will show something similar with a tremendous improvement in lethality and survivability.
Al Winn, Boeing vice president of Apache Programs, said the company is producing the high demand Block II Apache. The program is on track and ahead in production.
The Block III system design and development is about 44 percent complete, Winn said. “We’re a little bit under cost and almost right on schedule. We are hitting every key performance parameter with margin and since the program started there’s been no major requirement or design changes to the aircraft so it’s a stable baseline program. The first flight in July is also ahead of schedule.”
Apache Block III also is participating in the Air Force Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008 (JEFX 08) that runs April 14-25. The experiment involves the services, coalition nations, combatant commands and government agencies. The Apache program will look over and demonstrate some of the key networking capabilities it is developing under its open system architecture that will be in the Apache Block III. For example, the Block III mission processor is on board, as is the Block III software and operating system, and as the Future Combat System (FCS) System of Systems Common Operating System, and Joint Tactical Radio System radios.
The JEFX 08 goal is to demonstrate complementary system interoperability, connectivity with the Air Force, ground soldiers, FCS unmanned gasoline powered micro-air vehicle.
Networking is where the Defense Department is heading and the Block III Apache is the only system that is going to be able to communicate on all those waveforms and with all those networks across DoD, Winn said. The work also provides risk reduction for the program.
Mike Burke, Boeing director of Army Rotorcraft Business Development, said, “When you talk about joint interoperability, this is on the leading edge of joint interoperability.”