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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0019.PDF
DEFENCE Crucial helicopter contracts due PAUL LEWIS/WASHINGTON DC THE YEAR 2 001 is shaping up to be a busy one for attack helicopter manufacturers, with critical decisions pending in Asia and the Middle East. An Egyptian contract to remanufacture 35 Apaches to AH-64Ds is expected and a request for proposals (RFP) is anticipated from Japan to formally kick off its AH-X requirement. Egypt is expected to finalise a previously announced deal to upgrade its fleet of AH-64As, despite US Government reluc tance to supply the Longbow fire- control radar. The helicopters will instead be rebuilt as AH-64Ds fit ted for, but not with, the mast- mounted radar, but able to receive remote Longbow data. One sticking point has been Israel's insistence on maintaining a qualitative edge over its neighbour. Israel has decided to remanufac ture one of its 41 AH-64As to Apache Longbow standard as a demonstration validation, as well as ordering eight new-build machines. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is expressing interest NEWS IN BRIEF • TRAINING CONTRACT CAE has won a third-party training contract at its Medium Support Helicopter Training Facility in the UK to train Canadian air force pilots and flight engineers in operating the CH-113 Labrador helicopter. Con version training on the new EH-101 Cormorant search and rescue helicopter was due to start on 11 December. • F-15 ECM INSTALLATION The US Air Force has begun installing Northrop Grum man ALQ-135 Band 1.5 electronic countermeasures systems in Boeing F-15Es. The manufacturer has also secured a $36.8 million con tract for 17 further systems. in the AH-64D Apache Longbow, possibly as new production or as a rebuild of its 12 AH-64As. According to US officials, Kuwait is still intent on finalising its long- awaited deal for 16 radar-equipped AH-64Ds worth $640 million. The Apache faces competition in Japan from the Bell AH-IZ Super Cobra and a proposed light attack version of the indigenous Kawasaki OH-2. The Japan Defence Agency is expected to release its RFP by March. In a sur prise move, Fuji has teamed with Boeing to offer the Apache after licence-producing the AH-IF for many years, leaving Bell to join Mitsubishi. The Japan Ground Self- Defence Force originally required up to 100 AH-X machines to replace earlier models of the Cobras. There is speculation that to satisfy local industry, the buy might end up a mix of high-end AH-IZs or AH-64Ds with a longer-term buy of smaller AH-2s from Kawasaki. South Korea, meanwhile, is soon expected to begin flight eval uation of competing attack heli copters. It is understood to have narrowed its field of contenders to four machines, including the AH- 64D, AH-IZ, Eurocopter Tiger and KamovKa-52. It plans to order 3 6 helicopters. • The US Army has again ground ed its fleet of 742 AH-64A and D Apaches as a precaution after the discovery during an inspection of a faulty swash plate assembly, failure of which could result in the loss of a helicopter. • Egypt wants to upgrade its AH-64As to Apache Longboiv standard Indian Government under siege for inexcusable' procurement lapses i\ MEHAR SINGH/DELHI ABOUT 40% of the Indian air force's aircraft will become obsolete in the next two years, according to a report released by the Indian Government's standing committee on defence. The report, tabled in the Indian Parliament in late December, has condemned what it calls "inex cusable" government lapses in procurement policy (Flight Inter national, 19 December-1 January 2001). The committee also says the long-delayed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and air defence missile programmes were already facing the threat of technological obsolescence. In particular, it has asked die government to conduct a performance audit of the fighter project. According to the committee, almost Rs30 billion ($640 million) has already been invested in the LCA and the Indian air force will receive the aircraft at least 32 years after the project began. Some observers doubt the aircraft will ever be bought in meaningful numbers, if at all. According to the Indian air force, the fully developed opera tional aircraft will not be available before 2012, or more realistically, not before 2015, and it says there will also be "considerable delay" in the country's planned service entry of the Akash and Trishul missiles. The repeatedly delayed maiden test flight of the LCA, which had been scheduled for 24 December, has been delayed yet again. The defence ministry has given no new date for the test flight, saying only that it would take place "very short ly". The aircraft was rolled out in the mid-1990s. Defence minister George Fernandes blames the delays on the international sanctions that were imposed on India in May 1998 after New Delhi conducted a series of nuclear tests. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 January 2001 17
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