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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0987.PDF
Apache reliability under fire A series of problems with the US Army's McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache anti-tank heli copter have surfaced as a result of complaints from an opera tional unit. A memo deliberately leaked to the press by a Congressional subcommittee contains a copy of a handwritten letter from the commanding officer of the Army's 82nd Aviation Brigade in which he says: "Systems reliability is killing us ... if we went to war tomorrow, I'd have to recommend taking all of our AH-Is before we outloaded one AH-64". Most of the problems came to light during semi-annual gunnery and field training exer cises at Camp Mackall in January. According to the US House of Representatives Over sight and Investigations Subcommittee, the exercise ^revealed "constant and signifi cant maintenance problems with the AH-64". The 30mm gun (built by McDonnell Douglas) "jammed on virtually every one of the Apaches ... it is unbelievable that we are field ing overly sophisticated and outrageously expensive weap ons systems for our fighting men which simply don't work". The Army is backpedalling on the content of the memo, written by Col Dennis Kerr, commander of the 82nd at Fort Bragg. "That is one com mander's viewpoint", a source at the Pentagon tells Flight. "The army is finding that the AH-64 has warfighting versa tility and capability that exceeds Apache's 30mm chain gun frequently jams, says the US Congress what the designers originally anticipated". Last week, Assistant Secre tary of Defense Dan Howard defended the Apache's reliability record, adding that some of the speculation surrounding the leaked memo was "a little misleading". He said: "The AH-64 only started entering the inventory in 1985. It is a relatively young system. We have gone through a series of fixes, and we are still making modifications to the aircraft". He said that the Apache's record over the last nine months compared favourably with that of the Bell AH-1 Cobra, which has been in the Army's line-up since the Vietnam war. He said: "The targets we have for both of these aircraft is a 75 per cent mission readiness capability. This is not an unusual rate for any military helicopter system, even transport helicopters. "For that nine-month period (to the end of January this year), the average for the AH-1 Cobra was 71-4 per cent. For the AH- 64 Apache, it was 73 • 7 per cent. We think that's not bad for a relatively young system". B-1B inspections ordered The Commander-in-Chief of the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) has ordered inspections of more than a quar ter of the Rockwell B-1B fleet, after the latest in a series of mishaps with the nation's front line bomber. The order follows an incident in which a B-IB from the 96th Bomber Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas, developed a fuel leak during pre-flight checks. The aircraft suffered a rupture to the port fuselage fuel tank when the crew attempted to check the variable-geometry wing sweep mechanism. As a precaution, the entire 97-aircraft B-IB fleet was grounded while a preliminary inspection of the affected aircraft was completed. Follow ing that investigation, SAC has ordered inspections of a "representative sample" of 25 more randomly selected B-lBs. The order covers the wing- sweep gear subassemblies and control mechanisms, which are located "in the vicinity" of the fuselage fuel tanks on either side of the aircraft, according to Maj Dennis Pearson at SAC's headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Pearson tells Flight that a report of the original inci dent is not yet available, and the cause of the rupture has not been identified. A decision on whether to extend the inspection order to the remainder of the B-IB fleet was due late last week, after the first 25 aircraft had been exam ined. The grounding order did not affect the alert status of the nuclear-capable B-IB fleet. The last B-IB accident also involved a 96BW aircraft at Dyess AFB on November 8 last year. This aircraft suffered a fuel leak in the port overwing fairing. The USAF says that "a design deficiency" allowed the fuel to migrate into the envi ronmental cooling system compartment which reaches temperatures beyond the fuel flash point. Howard added that the Army had resolved "most of the problems" with the chin- mounted 30mm chain gun. He said: "They've had some prob lems with the ammunition carriers, problems with binding of the ammunition in the chutes. They have an improved carrier on hand which is being incorporated in production, and is being retrofitted to the older aircraft". Howard also said that the original gun motor shear pins had not been strong enough, and had now been replaced. A circuit-breaker on the gun also kept tripping because of the intense vibration when the gun was fired, but that has now been substituted. He said: "These are small-scale fixes. They are not unusual." The same Pentagon source mentioned other problems with Apache which were not detailed in the Kerr memo. These include an "electrostatic signa ture problem". A heavy charge of static electricity apparently builds up on the airframe during nap-of-the-earth flight. There is still no indication as to whether the charge affects the electrical systems of the Apache, "but we are studying whether it might change or modify the radar signature of the aircraft", the Army says. Delaminations in main rotor blades have occasionally prevented the Apache from flying. Teams are in the field in Europe and the USA to fix the problems, the Army says. Prematurely broken hydraulic lines are being modified with a kit which will be fielded soon. Also, elastomeric bearings in the Apache tail rotor, which have occasionally failed in cold weather, are being modifed by a change in adhesive. McDonnell Douglas Heli copters president Bill Brown says: "We have been working on solutions to the 82 Airborne's problems with the Apache since receiving a note from the commander in February, and he is aware of this. The domi nant theme we continue to hear from Army leadership and commanders in the United States and Europe is that the Apache is regarded highly, performs well, represents a quantum leap in tank-stopping capability and is viewed by Warsaw Pact forces as an awesome opponent". FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 8 April 1989 17
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