Boeing AH-64

Australia ditches problematic European choppers for U.S. ones.

With the U.S. Army looking to maintain the capability of its legacy helicopter fleet even as it moves to modernize the force with advanced rotorcraft, continued progress with a new engine program is becoming crucial to its plans.

The Apache will be introduced from 2025, Australian defense minister Linda Reynolds announced Jan. 15, adding that the Boeing helicopter represented the “most lethal, most survivable and lowest-risk” option.

The proposed Foreign Military Sales revealed by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency reveal two radically different packages for the Bell AH-1Z or Boeing AH-64E Apache.

Boeing is seeing increased interest from current AH-64D Longbow Apache operators to remanufacture their helicopters to the AH-64E Guardian standard.

The company is expecting the Australian Department of Defense to request tenders for the supply of 29 helicopters late this year or early next.

The U.S. Army is seeking $513.5 million in fiscal 2021 for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, up from $398.3 in fiscal 2020, the first year of the program

The biggest change is in procurement of the Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk, which is reduced as planned to 36 aircraft from 74 in 2020.