
U.S. Army officials have justified the number of operational AH-64E gunships it will buy, but not the 167 Apaches the service says it needs for test and training at a price tag of $3.5 billion, according to the Pentagon's spending watchdog.In an audit report of the Apache program published June 25, the Defense Department Inspector General found the Army’s acquisition objective for operational Apaches was warranted.The current AH-64E Apache Remanufacture Acquisition Program Baseline procurement objective and Army Acquisition Objective (AAO)…