ARMY AL&T


M299 Launcher, and fire-and-forget AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile. The FCR was designed to meet three needs: increased performance in bad weather and battlefield obscurants, rapid wide-area search, and increased survivability against specific air defense systems that threaten the Apache in low-level environments.


Leveraging the expertise of develop- ment engineers and the experience of former Army aviators, the new D-model introduced cockpit management attri- butes employing new technologies that managed, by exception, the cockpit’s systems and the information available to the aviators. The collective information and data are available to pilots, but are not apparent unless a need-to-know is evident, allowing the pilots to focus time and effort on the mission outside the cockpit. Specifically, this eliminates the need to scan information that is deemed acceptable; information is provided to the crewmember only when there is an abnormal condition.


The Army’s initial operational test and evaluation of the AH-64D Apache Longbow, which concluded in 1995, demonstrated that the modernized heli- copter was 28 times more effective that the A-model Apache. The effective- ness was measured by the U.S. Army test community in terms of aircraft


The Apache Longbow remanufacturing line converts older AH-64A Apaches into the AH-64D Longbow. The Boeing assembly line in Mesa, AZ, conducts this remanufacturing process. (Photo courtesy of Boeing.)


survivability and lethality. Through testing, it was determined that the D model was seven times more survivable than the A model and four times as lethal.


Operational validation of the AH-64D Apache Longbow came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the helicopters were deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and later to Afghanistan, following the AH-64As in supporting allied efforts in Operation Enduring Freedom. Reports from battle- field commanders, aviators, maintainers, and Soldiers affirmed the capabilities of the Apaches. MG Virgil Packett II, then-U.S. Army Aviation Branch Chief and Commanding General of the U.S.


Army Aviation Warfighting Center, said, “The Apache is a symbol around the world that brings the best in indus- try, technology, the best in Soldiers, and it brings confidence because in the heat of battle, it is there when you need it.”


The completion of two multiyear contracts and delivery of 501 AH-64Ds marked a milestone for the Apache program along with a new beginning, as follow-on orders for additional remanufactured and new-build AH-64Ds for the Army and helicopters for international customers sustained production. Evolution is a continuous process, and the Army continued working on another modernization plan for the AH-64D that would result in the Apache Block III helicopter.


The AH-64D Apache Block III is the next phase of the Apache’s evolution. Block III is a remanufacturing program that adds additional capability, addresses obsolescence, and improves the sustainability and main- tainability of the airframe by Soldiers and logisticians. Block III low rate initial production is scheduled for FY11. (Photo courtesy of Boeing.)


41 OCTOBER –DECEMBER 2010


The Army further enhanced the Apache Longbow by awarding the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/ Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/ PNVS) contract in 2000. This com- petitively won system design and development program advanced the helicopter’s forward looking infrared (FLIR) capability to the next genera- tion and replaced the aging electronics in the forward avionics bays. Lockheed Martin rolled out the first system to the Army in May 2005 and completed the first unit equipped in June of that year.


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