Aviation Week & Space Technology - 30 March-12 April 2015

48 aircraft annually over five years
from fiscal 2017-21. “We will put out an
RFP [request for proposals] to Boeing
and aim for a March 2016 approval of
multi-year procurement,” says Col.
Jef Hager, Apache project manager.
A draft RFP is already with Boeing.
Multi-year procurements can be ap-
proved if they result in significant sav-
ings. Boeing’s second multi-year for the
CH-47F Chinook, a five-year, $4.9 bil-
lion contract for 155 helicopters signed
in 2013, was certified to save $810 mil-
lion over annual procurement. The
Army plans to acquire a total of 690
AH-64Es. Initial aircraft were remanu-
factured from AH-64Ds, but Boeing is
now producing new airframes.
The Army has so far equipped three
units with the “Echo” variant of the
AH-64, and plans to field the first capa-
bility upgrade this year. Capability Ver-
sion 4 introduces the Link 16 data link
and smaller, crashworthy external fuel
tanks. “Follow-on test and evaluation
was completed in August and we plan
a production cut-in with Lot 4 at the
end of this calendar year,” says Hager.
Link 16 will allow the AH-64E to
communicate with U.S. Air Force E-3
AWACS and E-8 Joint Stars surveil-
lance aircraft to extend situational
understanding and targeting range
beyond line of sight, he says. Develop-
ment of the next upgrade, Capability
Version 6, will begin this year with
testing planned for the latter part of

2017. The upgrade will focus on extend-
      ing the range of the Apache’s sensors,
      including the day sight, fire-control
      radar (FCR) and radio-frequency in-
      terferometer (RFI).
      Software upgrades to the mast-
      mounted FCR will extend detection
      and frequency ranges “so we can see

more targets,” says Hager, as well as

introduce new modes allowing the

Apache to detect and track water-

borne targets in a maritime environ-

ment. Hardware and software up-

grades will increase the sensitivity and

range of the passive RFI, which acts as

a radar warning receiver and target-

ing sensor. The Army plans to arm the

AH-64E with the Joint Air-to-Ground

Missile, a longer-range, dual-mode de-

velopment of the Hellfire.

The Army also plans to extend

manned/unmanned teaming with

AH-64Es once it fields a significant

number of upgraded RQ-7Bv2 Shad-

ow UAS equipped with the Ku-band

tactical common data link. “Now we

can talk to UAS on C-, L- and S-band

to get full-motion video,” Hager says.

This is called Level of Interoperabil-

ity (LOI) 2. “We will enhance the Echo

to LOI 4 [control of the UAS from the

Apache] on Ku-band to team with the

Gray Eagle and Shadow v2.”

Gray Eagle is a division asset, ex-

plains Hager, and manned/unmanned

teaming is planned to increase once

more-upgraded RQ-7Bv2 tactical UAS

are deployed alongside the Apaches as

an integral part of the “full-spectrum”

combat aviation brigades being fielded

by the Army.

Manned/unmanned teaming is key

to the Army’s strategy to use AH-64E

Apaches working with UAS to take over

the armed reconnaissance role from the

OH-58D. The Army calls this a “bridg-

ing” strategy, as the Apache/UAS team

is intended to cover the gap until a new

armed reconnaissance rotorcraft can

be acquired under FVL, says Col. Jef

White, capability manager for recon-

naissance and attack at Army Training

and Doctrine Command.

The U.S. Army, meanwhile, plans ma-

jor block upgrades to the CH-47 Chi-

nook to keep the heavy-lift helicopter

in service beyond 2060 as now planned.

“We are working with the Pentagon and

Boeing on how to execute a blocking

strategy through 2060,” says Col. Rob

Barrie, cargo helicopters project man-

ager. “Near term is the Block 2. The

proposal is a 2017 entry to Milestone B

[development launch] and a 2021 time-

frame for production.”

Once procurement of the current

machined-airframe CH-47F is com-

plete in 2019, the plan is to group fu-

ture upgrades into a series of blocks.

The alternative to a blocking strategy

is to “make a lot of separate engineer-

ing changes independently as funds be-

come available,” says Barrie. The goal

of Block 2 is to restore lift capability

lost to weight growth over the life of

the Chinook.

A later Block 3 would re-engine the

CH-47F with the more powerful and

fuel-efcient Future Afordable Tur-

bine Engine (FATE), says Lundy. GE

Aviation is under contract to build a

FATE ground demonstrator engine,

with the first full-engine test planned

for late 2016. FATE is aimed at dem-

onstrating a 5,000-10,000 shp-class

turboshaft with an 85% increase in

power-to-weight ratio and 35% reduc-

tion in specific fuel consumption.

The Army had received 309 of a

planned 464 CH-47Fs by the end of

2014, and intends to retire all of its

remaining CH-47Ds by 2019. But the

Chinook will have to remain in service

through 2065, says Lundy. “It will be

a 100-year aircraft. We will upgrade

through Block 2 then go to Block 3.”

A blocking strategy similar to that

used for the AH-64 will “affordably

maintain performance and relevance

by efciently doing engineering chang-

es in blocks,” says Barrie. “Blocking is

likely the way ahead, but the question

is how. What gets inserted in each

block?” Boeing already is developing

several upgrades for the Chinook in-

cluding a composite main rotor blade,

degraded visual environment sensor

and active parallel actuator subsystem

to add fly-by-wire tactile cueing with

force feedback to the CH-47F’s digital

automatic flight control system. c

60 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/MARCH 30-APRIL 12, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awst

ARMY AVIATION

Funding remains in place to

re-engine Army UH-60M Black

Hawks and upgrade UH-60Ls

with digital cockpits.

U.S. ARMY