Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 76) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Latest Apache Upgrade Begins Flying at Boeing Boeing has begun flight testing the AH-64D Apache Block III, the latest upgrade of the long-serving attack helicopter that will increase performance, connectivity and the ability to work with unmanned aircraft. The first of two avionics test aircraft flew at Boeing’s Mesa, Ariz., plant on June 27, followed on July 5 by a helicopter equipped with new composite main rotor blades. The Block III Apache is scheduled to enter service with the U.S. Army in 2011. Block III includes the new rotor blades, uprated face-gear transmission and digitally controlled General Electric T700-701D engines that will restore the AH-64D’s performance close to that of the original AH-64A. The upgrade also introduces a new open-architecture avionics system built around powerful mission processors designed to work with Internet Protocol-based, softwareApache Block III FCS,” said Gen Richard Cody, Army vice chief of staff, after flying the helicopter on its official first flight on July 9. Supplied by EFW, the dual mission processors replace a total of six separate computers in the Apache streaming video from UAVs— so-called Level 2 interoperability— Block III will have an integrated Level 4 control capability. A Ku-band Tactical Control Data Link, housed in a modified Longbow fire-control radar mast- defined network radios. Block III will also increase sensors and Level 4 control of the air vehicle itself. The U.S. Army plans to upgrade 230 AH-64As and Ds to Block III standard between 2011 and 2017, with the intent of operating a total of 634 modernized helicopters by 2025. Block III is being designed to integrate with the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) vehicles and weapons. The upgrade is being funded with money released by the Army’s 2004 cancellation of the Sikorsky/ Boeing RAH-66 Comanche. “The Block III will be what the Comanche would have been for “The Block III will be what the Comanche would have been for FCS.” —Gen. Richard Cody, U.S. Army vice chief of staff. while providing eight times more computing power throughout, 24 times more memory and 100 times more network bandwidth, says Boeing. Combined with six data concentrators at different locations in the aircraft, the company estimates that the new processors will reduce wiring and weight, increase reliability by 50% and reduce acquisition and operating costs by 40% and 50%, respectively. While existing Block II Apaches are being equipped to receive mounted radome, will provide two-way high-bandwidth communication with UAVs, while a separate TCDL antenna under the fuselage will allow the helicopter to downlink its high-resolution imagery from its own sensors. Flight testing of the Lockheed Martin-supplied Level 4 UAV control system is set to begin in August using Boeing’s Unmanned Little Bird, a modified A/MH-6 helicopter, as a surrogate for the Army’s General Atomics Sky Warrior UAV. Raytheon Radars for Boeing P-8A Poseidon imaging”—but it will weigh less, Raytheon is on track to deliver four cost less and have improved reliaAPY-10 radars to Boeing in the fourth bility, Hopper says. quarter of this year for integration It’s also “an integral part of the into the P-8A Poseidon Multimission Boeing net centric platform,” he Maritime Aircraft, the U.S. Navy’s says. “That’s really what the P-8A replacement for the P-3 patrol plane. is, a node in the sky.” The four radars are system deThe APS-137 was first delivered velopment and demonstration to the Navy for the P-3 in the late (SDD) models, but are production 1980s and in the early ‘90s for quality, according to Brad Hopper, installation in S-3s. An upgrade Raytheon business development called Anti-Surface Warfare Imsenior manager. Boeing P-8A Poseidon Multimission Maritime Aircraft provement Program, or ASIP, was The first flight of the P-8A, a added to 76 P-3Cs after the end of derivative of the 737-800 airliner, is the Cold War to give the synthetic slated for late 2009, and first test of These tests amount to “a final scoring of aperture radars a capability to work the radar aboard the plane is set for the performance of the system in as over land. 2010, Hopper says. The plane and ra“There’s a lot of foreign interest” dar are slated to become operational close to an operational environment as in the P-8A “as you might expect,” in 2013. The Navy wants 117 P-8As. you can be without being on the aircraft.” Hopper says. Boeing is talking with The first SDD APY-10 begins —Brad Hopper, Raytheon business development senior manager. India about the aircraft, and Austower tests this month at Raytheon’s tralia is talking to the U.S. Navy McKinney, Texas, facility. These tests The APY-10 not only has all the capabilities about joining the Navy’s Spiral 1 P-8A program. amount to “a final scoring of the performance of the system in as close to an operational envi- of the P-3 radar, Raytheon’s APS-137— “includ- Under this program, known in Australia as ronment as you can be without being on the ing maritime surveillance, periscope detection, AIR-7000 Phase 2, Australia would essentially synthetic and inverse synthetic aperture ship purchase the U.S. Navy’s baseline Poseidon. aircraft,” Hopper says. 76 July 15, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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