Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $12.9m domestic and Foreign Military Sales (for the United Kingdom) contract for refurbishment support services for the Apache attack helicopter.
The US State Department say that bids were solicited via the internet with one received.
“Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-19-F-0466).”
The US Army is the primary operator of the AH-64. It has also become the primary attack helicopter of multiple nations, including Greece, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. It has been built under license in the United Kingdom as the AgustaWestland Apache.
American AH-64s have served in conflicts in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Israel used the Apache in its military conflicts in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. B
British and Dutch Apaches have seen deployments in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Why can’t we keep our old apaches or sell them instead of breaking them to bits for our new ones!!!
Because the defence budget is so tight that all the decisions are made around short term cost cutting.
Putting them into storage to cover another prolonged mess like iraq/afgan would be a far better decision.
As far as I can tell the AH64E is just an upgrade to bring the the D model up to a slightly better mechanical spec than our AH1s and adding a better datalink and control link to UAVs be better off buying kits again and then putting our own folding rotors and engines in them. 1 of the reasons we didn’t but straight from the US before is because we couldn’t have RR engines that had better performance, we proved this in Afghan every other nation except the UK had to remove the longbow radar to fly them that hot… Read more »
To my knowledge the Apache E has a completely new drive train and more powerful engines than the RRs found on the AH1. So that point isn’t really relevant now.
Correct Monty – AH64E will have different engines,but the information I have read seems to suggest both New Build and Refurb for the ‘E’ so not 100% sure which it is.If it was New Build storage of surplus Airframes would make sense but maybe they would be used as more of a part-exchange.The MOD has never been too keen on long term storage of anything to be honest.
Was still slower than a Chinook.
I thought the Apaches were knackered?
Best to buy new and keep the bits that are worthwhile.
Question for those in the know. Are the days of dedicated attack helicopters numbered? It would seem that they are becoming increasingly vulnerable to anti aircraft weapons that are themselves becoming cheaper and more prolific. Could the high end tasks not be met by fast jets while the low end tasks be covered by UCAVs?
People have been predicting to demise of manned aircraft for decades but perhaps the replacement of attack helicopters is the first logical step?
Cheers
Depends on there defences…
I think the days of the attack helicopter are far from over.
But it will belong to aircraft like the AH64E, with its sophisticated sensors and defensive systems, plus the vital UAV compatibility.
Old Hinds etc will be very vulnerable indeed to the proliferation of increasingly capable Sam systems.