Having inked a deal with India for dozens of AH-64 Apache attack and CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift utility helicopters, Boeing [BA] is confident that its military rotorcraft production lines will be able to rebound from a dip in orders caused by a downturn in U.S. military spending and continue churning out helicopters perhaps through 2030, according to Vice President for Vertical Lift David Koopersmith.
Boeing locked down a contract the week of Sept. 28 to sell India 22 Apaches and 15 Chinooks after at least six years of courting the nation’s defense ministry.
“That was a huge culmination of an incredible amount of work from the entire Boeing team,” Koopersmith told sister publication Defense Daily in an interview Oct. 2. “These have been ongoing campaigns for us for I guess half a dozen years.
India will be the 19th international customer for the Chinook and 16th for the Apache.
Koopersmith chalked the contract awards up to hard work on Boeing’s part and the Indian Ministry of Defense working through budget troubles similar to those that have in recent years stalled U.S. military acquisition programs.
“We never fully understand how the critical mass has to occur in each country to get to a decision, but I can’t explain to you how we get to having an authorization or an appropriations bill pass in the U.S., either.”
With the awards, Boeing moves closer to Russia as a major arms supplier to India, and further solidifies the company’s position as the world’s largest aerospace firm. Parts for both the Apache and Chinooks will be built in India, which already builds aft pylons and cargo ramps for U.S. and other international Chinook customers, he said.
Final assembly, ramp testing and first flight will take place at Boeing’s U.S. manufacturing facilities, he said. Production of both Chinook and Apache is at relative ebb because of down U.S. deliveries associated with sequestration and other budget uncertainties, Koopersmith said.
“We continue to look at Indian suppliers because they bring very good capability, very good technology and strong value to our strategy for providing world-class capability at the best value,” Koopersmith said.
Work on India’s aircraft will therefore be absorbed by existing excess production capacity, as was done with the V-22s that Japan ordered earlier this year, he said. Boeing also this year was awarded the contract to replace the Navy’s carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft, the C-2 Greyhound, with the V-22.
Given the scope of work Boeing has either won or anticipates to win in the near future, Koopersmith is confident that production lines for all four of its major rotorcraft programs–Chinook, Apache, V-22 and AH-6 Little Bird–will keep humming well into the 2020s.
“We just submitted a multi-year proposal to the U.S. Army for the Apache,” he said. “Now that we’ve won the COD for V-22 and with additional U.S. Marine Corps and potential other sales including Japan and other international customers…that will extend the production well into the 2020s.”
Boeing’s current multi-year CH-47F work including the India deal, U.S. Army and other international orders will keep that production line in business through 2019. “Stay tuned for additional news on this channel in the next few months as additional customers come on board.”
The company also is working with the Army and Special Operations Command (SOCOM)–which operates the highly specialized MH-47G version of the Chinook–to develop and provide Block 2 upgrades to the entire fleets of Chinooks.
Army Chinooks have a refit date with Boeing’s plant outside Philadelphia for Block 2 upgrades starting in 2018, when they will begin receiving upgrades to improve lift, speed and avionics. SOCOM will upgrade its MH-47Gs in parallel in an effort to achieve a fleet that is more common with the larger Army. A milestone B decision to begin engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) on Block 2 upgrades is expected in 2017, Koopersmith said.
“That would extend the current production of Chinook well into the 2020s, if not into the 2030s,” he said. “We’re at 2015 now. We will continue to build F-models for the U.S. Army and international customers…through at least 2019 until we feather in starting building the first of the Block 2 Chinooks for both the Army and Special Forces.”
Block 2 upgrades include advanced rotor blades that could add 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of lift to the aircraft without any other changes in configuration.
“What we’re really doing there is taking lessons learned from the echo-model Apache, where we did create a new 6-inch-longer, modern airfoil composite rotor blade that is now on the 200-plus echo model Apaches we’ve delivered,” he said. “It is providing the additional lift and other capabilities that we envisioned.”
Boeing is in the middle of building the first CH-47 advanced rotor blade, which should be complete in the next month, he said. Flight test will begin next year.