NASHVILLE, Tenn.–By September, Boeing [BA] expects to have demonstrated the AH-6 helicopter’s capability to hover out of ground effect at 6,000 feet in 95- degree temperatures, a key performance characteristic the Army requires for any new armed reconnaissance helicopter.
Al Winn, Boeing vice president of Apache programs, said Monday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference here that will put the helicopter at Technology Readiness Level 7 “that means any customer who wants a light reconnaissance attack helicopter at low risk in a program going forward, [the AH-6] provides that capability and Boeing can provide the aircraft very quickly.”
Mike Burke, director of Business Development for Army Rotorcraft at Boeing, said, “The Army wants this kind of capability in the high altitudes and temperatures in Afghanistan.”
In October, the Pentagon canceled the potential $6 billion plus Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter contract with Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT] for cost and schedule concerns. Bell had nosed out Boeing for the contract in 2005 (Defense Daily, Feb. 27).
However, the requirement remains for about 512 such aircraft, and to retire the aging Bell Helicopter Kiowa Warrior.
The Army sent out a sources sought request for information to industry asking what capability exists to meet the needs, including at 6,000 feet in 95 degrees with three hours of fuel, (Defense Daily, Nov. 12).
In December, the aviation program executive officer and the Army staff said no aircraft could meet that need, Mike Burke, Boeing director of Business Development for Army Rotorcraft, said in the same briefing.
“This is a flying prototype. This summer, we’re going to demonstrate 6,000/95 and after this summer they won’t be able to say that anymore,” he said.
To resolve the way forward, an analysis of alternatives will begin likely some time this summer, and will take 18 months or so to complete.
Currently, the AH-6 meets all key performance parameters and requirements in the current capability document, Burke said.
Last fall, Winn said, the AH-6 was “just a brochure.” Today, it is a flying prototype, one exhibited here at Quad A, along with a variant body that can carry four personnel.
In putting it together, “our objective was to provide a capability as quickly as we could…and to provide optional capability characteristics for the customer,” Winn said.
The AH-6 has a heritage stretching to the AH-6M used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation regiment. That means the mounts exist for weapons qualified on the airframe, to include the Hellfire missile, the M260 seven-shot rocket pod, a machine gun and a mini-gun integrated with a sensor system.
The AH-6 kept the weapons plank and stores installation, but the whole avionics architecture and installation is new, Winn said. In fact, the cockpit looks a lot like the Apache Block III, and is a scaled down version of the Block III avionics architecture mission systems.
“All but two [avionics] boxes of the AH-6 come from the Apache Block III,” he said. “There is also a 60-70 percent commonality in software with Apache Block III.”
The commonalities mean life-cycle costs and the cost of ownership are reduced, he said.
Unlike the older AH-60M, the avionics are now in the nose of the aircraft and out of the cabin, leaving more room there.
The variant on display here–AH-6S, “S” for stretch– has a larger cabin, allowing four troops to sit facing each other, comfortably and with room between their knees. Under the floor, is a larger internal fuel capacity.
Other improvements on the AH-6 include new rotor blades, up rated engines from Rolls-Royce.
“An unmanned version of this [the aircraft on exhibit] is flying in Mesa today,” Winn said.
The unmanned version is tied to the Apache Block III Level 4 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) controls, and is flying today demonstrating the UAV connection with Apache Block III prototypes, he said.
“With a kit, there’s an optional capability to fly manned or unmanned, and the kit can be applied in the field,” he said. “Our solution is to do both. We can make it manned or unmanned as you [the customer] decide, and it doesn’t require a procurement decision ahead of time; operational units can decide day-to-day which version they want to use based on their operations,” Winn said. “We provide the customer the flexibility to take the airplane and missionize it.”
Burke said the AH-6 will be interoperable with Apache, and this seems to be the quickest way to get a capability in the field quickly.
“We anticipate we could start delivering the aircraft in two increments,” Burke said. The first increment would be produced to get to the field quickly, then a second increment when Block III testing is complete and the AH-6 can be fielded with Block III capabilities. To back fit the first two battalion sets would mean changing out the mission computers.
Burke estimates production at about 72 helicopters per year.
“It’s the quickest way to retire the Kiowa Warrior fleet, get it to the troops as fast as we could, and be able to operate with and be interoperable with Apache, and do it inside the cost of the expected program of record cost, and do it quicker than any other capability out there,” he said.
Additionally, a number of foreign countries are “window shopping,” and have asked for a briefing on the AH-6, Winn said.