AH-64E's for the UK...

[Nigel Bunker]

Apparently Westland Apaches cost £44m apiece whilst Boeing ones cost £20m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/31769714

[Truro Model Builder]

Interesting article in Flight International this week concerning the rebuild V replace argument. Certainly the rebuild programme is far from a done deal at the moment.

And the BBC article neglects to mention that the US Apache price was for a strictly off-the-shelf purchase.

[Nigel Foster60]

As service aircraft go they are rather 'young' to need replacing ? Is it a result of the service in Afganistan?

Nigel

[Truro Model Builder]

It is more the systems than the airframes. The Army Air Corps will be at a disadvantage with regard to upgrades, software improvements etc if they do not look to do this now, as despite the differences between the UK and US AH-64Ds much of the systems architecture is the same. Whether this is because the AH-64D was not adequately 'future proofed' I do not know, but with the US Army moving onto the AH-64E a lot of 'D support and development work is being closed down. I presume other 'D users (Egypt, Greece, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE) will be facing similar problems.

Either way it's all good for Boeing's helicopter division, or is that just a bit too cynical..?

[Nigel Foster60]

Don't you just love the American Aircraft industry at times, and they are our Allies!

Nigel

[GMK]

I'm a huge fan of US rotary-wing industry: they deliver what's on the box, have an upgrade program that keeps platforms relevant and ensure they're on firm ground before moving onto the next generation.

All that costs money, but it's better than penny-pinching, minuscule, miserly upgrades, barely worth the name, the resultant fleets within fleets within fleets, and the shock of the overall poor level of irrelevant & illusiory "capability" that long-term under investment gives you.

My 2c.