British Army Apache Block III upgrade decision expected in December

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to make a decision in December whether the British Army’s AH-64D Apache Longbow Mk I fleet is upgraded to the US Army’s latest Block III standard.

The Block III has improved targeting, endurance and payload. It is able to carry more ammunition and fuel at 6,000 feet and 35 degrees Celsius, while the crew has access to a Ground Fire Acquisition System (GFAS) that can detect and distinguish between gunfire and rocket propelled grenades.

‘The [UK MoD] are looking at making a decision late this year, December timeframe, on whether they move to the Block III for their Apaches. They current fly Block I,’ Lt Col Daniel Bailey, US Army Apache Block III programme manager, told Shephard. Bailey is on a modernisation working group that has discussed the Block III with the UK.

The Block III has new carbon fibre main rotor blades but Bailey does not expect the UK to adopt these.

‘They have been talking about putting the BERP [British Experimental Rotor Programme] blade on their Apaches,’ he noted.

The MoD declined to comment but AgustaWestland, which builds the Apache for the UK, said: ‘There have been proposals to apply BERP IV technology to a new Apache main rotor blade but there is no funded programme.’

The BERP IV programme was completed in 2007 and its composite blade flies on the Royal Air Force AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin Mk III, which have been deployed to Afghanistan.

In April this year the Block III was going through its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOTE) at Fort Irwin, California. The IOTE included the new capability of unmanned teaming, with a General Atomic Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

In 2013 the Block III is to first enter service with the US Army’s 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas.


Source: By the Shephard News Team - 01 June 2012

Photo: The British Army AH-64D Apache Block III (Photo by UK MOD)

(1.06.2012)