Manufacturers eyeing a potential contract to replace Japan's 84 Fuji/Bell AH-1S attack helicopters say they anticipate a fresh request for information to be issued by the end of the year.
According to Boeing, which is proposing the AH-64D Apache Longbow, this could be followed by a contract in around 2002 for 40-80 helicopters, with deliveries to the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) beginning 27 months later.
Boeing says that Japan is uncertain whether to opt for a foreign design - traditionally with production under licence in Japan - or for a Kawasaki (KHI) development, called the OH-1 Kai.
The Kai, now under study, is an anti-tank helicopter based on the KHIOH-1 battlefield reconnaissance helicopter, with a modified airframe and engines. KHI began deliveries of the first batch of seven OH-1s to the JGSDF earlier this year, with two more to be shipped by the end of the financial year next March.
Boeing says it believes that Japan could pursue a two-step selection process, initially deciding whether to go with an indigenous or foreign design, then downselecting further if it opts for a foreign type.
Under consideration alongside the OH-1-Kai and the AH-64D are the Bell AH-1ZSuperCobra, proposed with Fuji Heavy Industries, or the Eurocopter Tiger, backed by Marubeni.
Boeing says it has also talked to Fuji - traditionally Japan's military helicopter specialist - about Apache manufacture licence production.
"In Japan, it's directed where the work goes. The government tells you who to hook up with," says the US manufacturer.
Rolls-Royce is displaying its RTM322 at the Tokyo show as a potential alternative powerplant to the AH-64's General Electric T700. It recently bid to power eight Apaches ordered by Singapore, but the South-East Asian island is to stick with GE.
Source: Flight International
