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Mil and Rostvertol have enlisted the services of Sextant Avionique and Thomson-CSF of France to design and integrate a new avionics suite for the Mil Mi-35M. The Mi-35 is the export version of the Mil Mi-24 'Hind', with the demonstrator Mi-35M (pictured) on display at this year's Paris airshow. (Paul Merritt)
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Britain Selects Apache
The British MoD has selected the Westland/McDonnell Douglas WAH-64D Apache to meet the British Army’s requirement for an attack helicopter, winning out against the Eurocopter Tiger and GEC/Bell AH-1W CobraVenom. The British Army has long favoured the Apache to fill its requirements and it was able to win out against the cheaper CobraVenom and the political arguments and rhetoric of the European Tiger. The service will buy 67 Apaches, all of them fitted with the Longbow millimetre wave radar, rather than the full stated requirement for 90 aircraft. Combat modelling highlighted the much greater effectiveness of having a smaller fleet of Apaches all equipped with Longbow, against a larger fleet with only some fitted with the radar. The British Army will also look at giving the WAH-64D an air-to-air capability, depending on the success of US Army trials with the Shorts Starstreak. The WAH-64D will be built in the UK by Westland, and it will be powered by Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322 turboshafts (as on the EH 101), in place of GE T700s. Around 180 UK companies will be involved in the Westland Apache programme, with as many as 3000 jobs created. As expected, the decision to buy an American sourced helicopter drew much flak from Eurocopter. A Eurocopter press release stated that “Eurocopter can only deeply regret this sovereign decision and deplore this closed opportunity to set up a new cooperation with Great Britain, a major industrial partner in the aeronautical field.”
Hunter Aerospace Wins Adf Helo Maintenance
Newcastle based Hunter Aerospace Corporation has been awarded a lucrative six year contract by the RAAF to maintain the Army’s Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. The contract covers the provision of maintenance support of the Army’s 38 Black Hawks and four Chinooks at their Townsville base. Already Hunter provides maintenance support for the Army’s 25 Iroquois, plus performs major modification and structural repair work on RAAF F/A-18s. The RAAF, which is responsible for Army helicopter logistics, has the option of extending the contract for a further four years to 10 years.
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