Page 30 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2020

30 SEA POWER HELICOPTERS
APRIL 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Two years later, British Army Air Corps Apaches embarked aboard the ship once again but this time to fly combat mis- sions over Libya as part of the UK’s Operation Ellamy. Be- tween May and August 2009, the Apaches completed around 25 missions, striking more than 100 targets on the ground.
The UK is arguably one of the leading countries in terms of shipboard operations with Apache and in June 2019 it be- gan three days of trials aboard the Royal Navy’s new 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The trials, known as Platform Ship Integration Testing, were conducted by the Army Air Corps’ 667 (Development & Trials) Sqn and were designed to ensure the Apache can safely operate, refuel and rearm on the ship’s deck.
The UK signed an FMS contract in 2016 for 50 AH-64E helicopters, to replace its current fleet of 66 AH.1s and it is expected that these new helicopters will be trialled aboard Royal Navy warships, including the Queen Elizabeth class carries, as the acquisition program matures.
“THE AH-64E CAN BE ACQUIRED AS A NEW-BUILD HELICOPTER, BUT EXISTING AH-64D CUSTOMERS ALSO HAVE THE OPTION OF HAVING THEIR AIRCRAFT REMANUFACTURED BY BOEING.”
LEFT BELOW: The Apache is very used to operating in a maritime environment.
BOEING LAND 4503 PROPOSAL
Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) is proposing the AH-64E with version software for Army’s Land 4503 requirement and will offer a mix of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sale (DCS) methodology, which it says will provide the ADF with a cutting edge attack helicopter while maximising potential benefit to Australian industry.
The company has launched an ICN Gateway campaign to enable local companies to express their interest in a number of work packages offered. Known as the Boeing Rotorcraft Network Australia (BRNA), the portal went live in August 2019 and, according to BDA’s senior manager, program de- velopment, Steve Lovaszy, 133 Australian companies had registered under the 43 capabilities listed by the end of Janu- ary 2020.
“This has allowed Australian companies to register their in- terest in supporting Boeing rotorcraft, and not just for future programs like Apache, but also our current programs like HATS (Helicopter Aircrew Training System) or (CH-47F) Chinook,” Lovaszy said to ADM. “The BRNA is a key initia- tive for us and it’s clearly an important aspect for our offer for Land 4503, to maximise Australian Industry Capability (AIC) and we’re certainly taking actions currently to investigate the capabilities that we’ll need to support this program and the opportunities here in Australia that can deliver that.”
In a further statement regarding Land 4503 sustainment strategy, BDA said that Apache will be delivered and sus- tained under the FMS/DCS mix to, “provide certainty in the Achievement of Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and Final Operational Capability (FOC) milestones. This solu- tion leverages mature Military Off The Shelf (MOTS) prod- ucts and services available through FMS to achieve initial operational milestones, before transitioning to local support services which will be contracted under direct commercial terms with Boeing Defence Australia.”
Boeing’s TJ Jamison maintains Apache is also competitive on price, due to the economies of scale provided by joining an FMS buy, despite what he calls a ‘superior combat over- match’ in terms of capability when compared with current and future threats.
“That’s how we keep the cost down and how we keep to the schedule. We’re held to a very rigid schedule by the US Army to deliver helicopters, not just to them, but through FMS to our global customers. So, what we give you is a schedule and we make those deliveries on time (and) on target,” he said.
“We look at it as not only a very cost-effective solution, but a very cost-effective modernisation plan going forward. The US Army committed to a program of record of 791 aircraft, 1,200 world-wide. We have a production line that already has orders committed to 2028, we’re producing ten a month and we have about ten more international customers on the verge of selecting the Apache.
“That buys security, a sense of stability and a sense of cer- tainty, for where this aircraft is today and where it’s going to in the future.” ■
“In terms of what makes a helicopter suitable for op- erations in the maritime domain, it’s controllability, power margin, tail rotor control and in general, any aircraft that is designed to operate on the battlefield, should already have these attributes, because they need to be able to operate out of wind to get to a firing solution,” Ben Lewis, Flight Opera- tions manager for Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) said.
“Having good tail rotor authority is a big thing for mari- time operations, because it allows you good directional con- trol in different winds. Good tail rotor authority in general terms allows you to get on and off deck and Apache is very good in that respect.”
Lewis adds that command and control during maritime operations is undertaken by a lead ship which needs to re- ceive, process and disseminate information rapidly. “Apache brings some of the best situational awareness tools, in terms of what it can see and what it can feed back into the com- mand centre,” he said.
“In the Libya operation the UK Apaches had a high tempo and, using their sensors, they were able to go quite a way into a contested environment.”
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