Block III will ensure Apache ‘production’ through 2040 | Aviation International News

Block III will ensure Apache ‘production’ through 2040

They’ve done it with the Chinook, now they’re doing it with the Apache.

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

June 9, 2009

They’ve done it with the Chinook, now they’re doing it with the Apache. Boeing expects that the AH-64 production line will still be running in 2040, thanks to a strategy that offers a continuing series of upgrades that can be efficiently incorporated on a single production line that recycles used aircraft as well as producing new ones.

On a visit last month to the home of the Apache in Mesa, Arizona, AIN saw new-build AH-64D Block IIs for the U.S. Army coming down the line, mixed in with remanufactured airframes for the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. These aircraft are being procured under fixed-price or not-to-exceed contracts. The line moves every three-and-a-half days, and produces six to seven aircraft per month.

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