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The Department of Defence has confirmed delivery of the first four Australian Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters are still on track for later this year.
Four Apaches are undergoing structural, electrical wiring, major sub-assembly and mechanical installation in final assembly and production at the Boeing facility in Mesa, Arizona.
Defence aviation leaders attended a ceremony in Mesa earlier this year where they signed their names to the fuselage of one of the aircraft.
Head of Joint Aviation Systems Division Major General Jeremy King said it was an exciting time.
“The AH-64E Apache is the most contemporary and capable attack helicopter in the world,” MAJGEN King said.
“It allows us to continue to develop attack helicopter operations, armed reconnaissance helicopter operations, communications networking and, importantly, the ability to grow the teaming of crewed and uncrewed systems as we learn the lessons of modern warfare in the current environment.”
The AH-64E Apaches will be operated by 1st Aviation Regiment in Townsville once it is introduced into service and will progressively replace the current Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters.
The Apache configuration will align with the US Army, which expects to operate its AH-64E fleet until the middle of this century.
MAJGEN King said configuration alignment leveraged the United States’ training and support system.
“We can pick up the lessons, the engineering and the logistics that the US Army have applied to their aircraft relatively easily, and that’s something we’ve been able to do with both our Black Hawk and Chinook fleets as well,” he said.
“The CH-47F (Chinook), UH-60M (Black Hawk) and MH-60R (Romeo) fleets have experienced high levels of in-service availability and interoperability. We expect AH-64E to achieve the same when introduced into service.”
