UK will send Apache helicopters armed with Hellfire missiles to Ukraine, UK media

Britain will send attack helicopters armed with deadly Hellfire missiles to Ukraine in a move hailed as a “game-changer”.

The Apache choppers will bolster the country’s desperate fight against Russian invaders, now entering its 11th month.

The new package of support, to include tanks, was confirmed yesterday by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

A senior defence source told the Sunday People that up to four Apaches will be sent – and they will follow 10 Challenger 2 main battle tanks.

UK will send the AH64 E – the most modern version of the Apache.

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UK To Remanufacture their 'Apaches' to AH-64E Version

The United Kingdom has requested the remanufacture of fifty WAH-64 Mk 1 Attack Helicopters to AH-64E Apache Guardian Helicopters with one hundred and ten (110) T-700-GE-701D Engines (100 installed and 10 spares), the refurbishment of fifty-three (53) AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sights (M-TADS) (50 installed and 3 spares), the refurbishment of fifty-three (53) AN/AAR-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors (PNVS) (50 installed and 3 spares), the refurbishment of fifty-two (52) AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars (FCR) (50 installed and 2 spares) with fifty-five (55) Radar Electronics Units (Longbow Component) (50 installed and 5 spares), fifty-two (52) AN/APR-48B Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers (50 installed and 2 spares), sixty (60) AAR-57(V) 3/5 Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS) with 5th Sensor and Improved Countermeasure Dispenser (50 installed and 10 spares), one hundred and twenty (120) Embedded Global Positioning Systems (GPS) with Inertial Navigation (100 installed and 20 spares), and three hundred (300) Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets.
dsca

UK mothballs 16 AH-64 Apache fleet with end of Afghan ops

The UK has mothballed a quarter of its AgustaWestland-Boeing WAH-64 Apache Longbow AH.1 helicopters following the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.
In January, 16 of the British Army's 66 Apaches were placed into storage, leaving a force of 50 helicopters now operating out of Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk.
Currently, the Apache is fielded by 653 (operational conversion unit), 662, and 663 Squadrons of 3 (Attack) Regiment, and 656 and 664 Squadrons of 4 (Attack) Regiment.
The MoD is also assessing its options for maintaining the UK's attack helicopter capability out to 2040 and beyond.
In early March the MoD released a request for information (RfI) for remanufacturing the army's current AH-64D Block 1-standard helicopters into the latest variant AH-64E.
A decision on the way forward is expected in March 2016.
janes

AgustaWestland lobbying against United Kingdom's possible AH-64E Buy

The UK's efforts to sustain its Apache attack helicopter capability are being seriously hampered by lobbying from AgustaWestland.
With the British Army's 66 AgustaWestland-Boeing WAH-64D helicopters soon needing replacement due to obsolescence, the Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) preferred option of buying the new AH-64E directly from the United States is being delayed by AgustaWestland lobbying for work on any such procurement programme.
Boeing has offered to sell the AH-64E to the UK at GBP20 million (USD30 million) per aircraft (taking advantage of a US Army multi-year procurement package). If the helicopters were to be licence-built or modified by AgustaWestland, as was the case when the WAH-64D Block I helicopters were first acquired in the 1990s, this sum would more than double to GBP44 million.
Deciding how to proceed is becoming ever more urgent for the MoD, as the processing chips that drive the early-model Apache systems are no longer made, and the stockpile that Boeing has built up is expected to be depleted by around 2017.
Defence chiefs fear that delays of this nature may result in a capability gap between the older WAH-64Ds having to be retired around this date, and a replacement being introduced. The process has now been put back until after the General Election on 7 May, and a decision will not be taken until March 2016. This could mean a replacement platform not entering service until about 2020.
The AH-64E is understood to be the favoured option.
janes

UK retains Chinooks in Afghanistan

The UK has retained a number of Chinook transport helicopters in Afghanistan to support personnel assigned to the NATO training and advisory mission in the country.
Three RAF Chinooks previously assigned to operations in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan have been relocated to Kabul to support the servicemen that remain in the country following the wider withdrawal of UK forces last month.
The Chinooks become the last UK air assets to remain in Afghanistan following the announcement in mid-November that all UK forces had now left. While the RAF's Panavia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft were withdrawn to much fanfare in mid-November, there has been no public announcement related to the other air assets in theatre, beyond the general announcements about UK forces having left their main area of operations in southern Afghanistan.
Other UK air assets stationed in Afghanistan comprised the RAF's General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a number of which have now been transferred to operations over Iraq, as well as the British Army's AgustaWestland-Boeing Apache AH.1 attack helicopters, AgustaWestland Lynx AH.9A support helicopters, and Thales Watchkeeper WK450 UAVs. All of these are now understood to either be back in the UK or in transit back to the UK.
In July, military sources disclosed that the upgraded Westland/Aerospatiale SA 330E Puma HC.2 medium-lift transport helicopter may be deployed to Kabul in 2015 to help support the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.
This MoD statement regarding the retention of some Chinooks in Kabul demonstrates that NATO and the West was never going to be able (or even willing) to make a clean break from Afghanistan with the cessation of combat operations at the end of 2014.
janes

AH-64E looking increasingly likely for UK

The UK looks increasingly likely to procure the Boeing AH-64E.
The government is currently considering options to sustain the British Army's Apache fleet until its planned out of service date in 2040.
The 66 WAH-64D Block I helicopters in the UK inventory are rapidly becoming unsupportable, as the US Army and Boeing shift their attention to the AH-64D Block II and AH-64E fleets as operated by the US and most international customers.
Given the success of the Apache in Afghanistan and Libya, the British Army has made clear its desire to upgrade its current WAH-64D Block I helicopters with the latest variant AH-64E. The deputy commander of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), said that the army "rather hopes" that the AH-64E will be the chosen successor, for fielding before 2020.
The MoD is currently undertaking a capability sustainment programme to sustain the UK's attack helicopter capability out to 2040 and beyond.
janes

British Army's fleet of Apache helicopters 'could be scrapped' by 2017

Britain’s Apache gunships have been in use since 2001, seeing action in Afghanistan -and in Libya.
Despite the helicopters’ successes on the frontline, defence sources suggested that the Army Air Corps fleet of 66 Apaches could eventually be cut to around 50 aircraft fit for operations.
Britain’s American-made AH-64D helicopters face becoming redundant because the US has decided to stop using the AH-64D model and adopt a newer variant, the AH-64E.
That means essential technical support for the British Apache fleet will be withdrawn from 2017.

telegraph