The U.S. Army is to defer procurement of new-build Boeing AH-64E Apaches until after fiscal year 2018, as the immediate results of the enforced government budget cuts that took effect March 1 begin to be seen in the military.
The delay, revealed in the recently released Army Equipment Modernization Strategy, will leave the Army short 84 Apaches, according to its own estimates. The Defense Acquisition Board had granted approval for full-rate production for the AH-64E, known as the “Guardian,” back in August 2012, with Boeing expected to produce four AH-64Es a month over two years.
At the time, Apache project manager Col. Jeffrey Hager said, “We’ve got fiscal requirements, but securing that production through a full-rate production decision was just huge for this program. It’s probably the single largest decision that we’ve had since Block I’s and Block II’s went into production. It’s that monumental.”
But the changing fiscal environment has meant the budgetary requirements for the Apache project are now much tighter, requiring an adjusted plan for the future. “Over the next 30 years the Army will lead a Joint Service effort to transition from its current manned rotary-wing platforms to a future capability that will improve speed, range and lift capacity beyond the design limits of edge-wise rotor systems, focusing this future vertical lift development effort initially toward the medium aircraft class, the attack and utility helicopter fleets,” the new strategy states.
The use of mature technologies and incremental upgrades of existing equipment is emphasized in order to keep costs down, with the full funding of the Kiowa Warrior OH-58F program highlighted as one of the key Army objectives for the current fiscal year.
“Equipment requested in the FY13 [fiscal year 2013] President’s Budget strikes a balance between current and future needs, provides the basis for an affordable equipping strategy over time and takes into account Army requirements and priorities,” the Army’s Equipment Modernization Plan states. “In developing this request, the Army made difficult decisions to shift funds previously programmed for future capabilities to current needs. The decisions came at the expense of promising and needed technologies with capabilities that did not fit within resource limitations and represented significant changes in almost 100 programs.”
