IAF Gets its First Boeing Apache AH 64E Combat Helicopter
New Delhi. The Indian Air Force (IAF) received its first Apache Combat Helicopter May 10, the Air Headquarters announced.
Configured to IAF specifications as Apache AH 64E (I) Guardian, this is the most modern state of the art helicopter, with just about the same technologies as used by the US Army and Marines. Boeing is scheduled to deliver the first batch – numbers not specified but likely four – to India mid-July. Delivery of the remaining 18 out of the total 22 ordered will be over in 2020.
Air Marshal AS Butola received the first Apache ceremonially from the Boeing Company at its Mesa, Arizona production facility in the presence of US Government and Indian Embassy officials.
The hot desert weather there is more or less like that of north-western India with some similar vegetation and birds but the Apache, also known as a Flying Tank, is capable of all weather, day and night operations even in dense foliage and mountainous terrain of the Himalayas.
IAF will divide them in the warmer north-western India, possibly at Pathankot, and the forested north-eastern India, possibly at Dinjan in Assam.
Formidable Capability
The Boeing Apache is about formidable capability, and that is why the Indian Air Force has acquired it and the Indian Army, which controls the deployment of combat helicopters in a battle scenario, wants 39 of its own Apaches. The Army has been sanctioned six for the time being, and they will be manufactured and supplied by Boeing once all the IAF machines are delivered. That would be a follow-on order.
Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat had told this writer sometime back that their configuration would be the same as those for the IAF to maintain commonality in operations.
Also, a follow-on order is easy to process in the Ministry of Defence procedures as a new requirement means fresh tendering.
The Apache AH 64(I) flaunts some of the most advanced combat systems in the world, specifically the Longbow Radar and Hellfire Missiles for which Boeing has teamed up with Lockheed Martin. The mast-mounted Longbow is designed to detect and engage multiple targets like tanks and moving vehicles in adverse weather and attack them with Hellfire precision hit missiles. There is also the Stinger Air to Air missile and rockets and guns in its arsenal.
Manufactured by Raytheon, the Air to Air version of the Stinger has also been offered to HAL for integration on its Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). However, the US Government is yet to clear the deadly Man Portable (MANPADS) Stinger variant for India.
Apache is highly Advanced
In terms of technology of the machine and its onboard systems, the Apache Guardian is also the second most sophisticated piece of equipment with the Indian armed forces after the Indian Navy’s P8-I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft, that too from Boeing. The Indian Navy already has 12 P8-Is, and authoritative sources have told India Strategic that the Navy has put up a proposal for an additional 10 to the MoD.
Commonality of equipment between the US and Indian forces helps in interoperability, and this has also been emphasized by Admiral John Michael Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy, during his recent visit to India. The two navies share some data with each other.
Significantly, both the Apache and P8-I aircraft have just about the same capabilities as the ones being used by the US forces, indicating the growing warmth between Washington and New Delhi ever since Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush opened the doors of their State and Defense Departments to India.
As for the Boeing Apache, IAF said in a statement: “The addition of AH 64E (I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernization of Indian Air Force’s helicopter fleet. The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF’s future requirements and would have significant capability in mountainous terrain.”
It has the “capability to carry out precision attacks at standoff ranges and operate in hostile airspace with threats from ground. The ability of these helicopters to transmit and receive the battlefield picture, to and from the weapon systems through data networking, makes it a lethal acquisition. These attack helicopters will provide significant edge in any future joint counter
surface force operations in support of land forces.”
Training
IAF stated that the first batch of pilots and ground crew had already completed their training at the US Army’s Fort Rucker base in Alabama.
“These personnel will lead the operationalization of the Apache Fleet in the IAF.
Delivery
IAF had placed the order for 22 Apaches and 15 Chinook CH 47F Heavy Lift helicopters with Boeing in 2015, and the latter’s delivery.
Boeing’s India Business
Boeing has already sold 10 C 17 Globemaster III airlifters (an additional one is a possibility) to IAF, 8 plus 4 P8-Is to the Navy (an additional 10 are being considered), and has tied with the Tata and Mahindra groups and HAL for technology transfer and progressive production of aircraft and components in India, including for civil aircraft like Boeing 787. It is the most successful US company in India in defence, touching an order book of about US$ 15 billion.
Boeing India’s newly appointed President Salil Gupte says that the company, a global leader in Defence, Space and Security, has programmes to enhance its presence in the Indian market in three segments: Civil Aircraft, Military Aircraft, and their care through its new segment, Boeing Global Services that will offer maintenance for non-Boeing aircraft and systems also.
He said Boeing is sourcing components worth about $1 billion from India, and that as per a joint venture with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), it will produce Apache Fuselages, Secondary Structures and Vertical Stabilizers at its Hyderabad facility. TASL will also make CH 47 Chinook Crown and Tailcone Assembly.
Boeing formally entered the Indian defence market in 2007 by bidding in IAF’s Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.
