By Ann Roosevelt
Boeing [BA]’s AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopter successfully completed its first flight Sept. 16, after international interest in such an aircraft spurred development, company officials said.
For the next couple of weeks, the aircraft will continue to fly in preparation for the Dubai Airshow Nov. 15-19.
The AH-6i features flexible mission configuration, an integrated digital cockpit, the highest payload in its class, an integrated and qualified weapons system, and a communications package that enables connectivity with other aircraft and ground stations, the company said.
“The aircraft started design in February and flew in September,” Mike Burke, Boeing director of Army Rotorcraft Business Development, recently told Defense Daily. “That means seven months from design of the aircraft to first flight.”
AH-6i development cost less than $10 million, he said. The aircraft was unveiled about a year ago at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C. International interest was sparked in an aircraft in the light attack/reconnaissance class, and work began.
Working to determine how to most efficiently and quickly build up an aircraft, Boeing worked with the AH-6 airframe–familiarly known as the Little Bird–used by U.S. special operations forces and developed by Boeing some 15 years ago. Boeing is still in charge of developing the latest version.
“The aircraft we’re flying has a completely integrated cockpit based on the Apache Block III,” Al Winn, Boeing vice president of Apache programs, said. “Eighty-three percent of the software in the mission computer has been directly ported from the Apache Block III. We literally took the architecture, software, out of Block III, resized it to fit this back cabin.”
However, the back cabin was full of avionics and customers wanted that space. Boeing came up with a concept to move the avionics into a newly designed area under the nose of the aircraft. This move gave the AH-6i cabin more space so it was more useful for customers and, interestingly, made the aircraft more balanced than before.
“The rapid integration of the avionics suite and cockpit proves the value of the Boeing open systems architecture, originally developed for the AH-64D Apache Block III, to facilitate quick configuration and integration of new technologies,” Winn added.
“Currently, we are working with the special operations forces,” Winn said. Improvements on the AH-6i will be offered to them.
Boeing will produce the AH-6i at its facility in Mesa, Ariz., and is currently responding to inquiries from potential customers around the world.