The Taiwanese army earlier this year took delivery of the first of 30 Apache combat helicopters from the US and next month pilots and crew will begin training on the platform, which recently received a new designation from the US Army.
As a result of the significant upgrades made to the AH-64D Block III Apache during its development, the US Army recently decided to re-designate it the E model. To date, 25 AH-64Es have been delivered to the US Army and Taiwan received its first delivery during a low-key handover ceremony at Boeing Co’s Mesa facilities in Arizona in May.
According to Aviation Week, training for Taiwanese pilots and crews is expected to begin next month.
Photo courtesy of Boeing Co.
Following approval by the US government in August of contracts for full production of the helicopter, Boeing is now building four AH-64Es per month for the US Army, which plans to buy a total of 690, and three for foreign military sales (FMS). The US has also notified Congress for the sale of eight AH-64Es to Indonesia, 22 to Qatar and 22 to India, the latter under a non-FMS “hybrid” agreement.
If tests at the Naval Air Station China Lake in California last year are any indication, Taiwan’s AH-64E will be a far more formidable combat helicopter than its predecessors. During the drills, the E model reportedly countered realistic air defense threats and was able to maintain its position, unlike the Block II Apaches, which was “shot down” in similar exercises.
“The Block III absolutely frustrated these folks that operate these [air defense] systems,” Colonel John Lynch, attack helicopter manager at Army Training and Doctrine Command, told Aviation Week.
This was partly due to the aircraft’s ability to operate at lower altitudes and thus evade radar systems arrayed against it.
Part of the Echo model’s advantages are its improved composite main rotor blades, which are 15cm longer than those used on older models, as well as a new tip design and General Electric T700-GE-701D engines, all of which give the aircraft improved aerodynamic performance.
The AH-64Es’ new power-to-weight ratio also makes it safer for operations at low-levels and gives it a performance similar to that of the AH-64A, which was significantly lighter than the AH-64D Block II model, Lynch told Shephard Media, a defense and aerospace publication.
Taiwan’s 30 Apache helicopters, administered under a program named “Sky Eagle,” were included in an October 2008 notification to US Congress for about US$2.5 billion. Full delivery of the multirole attack helicopters is expected to be completed in 2017.
LOOPHOLES: The people behind biased media content produced by a Chinese network, likely without sending staff to Taiwan, remain anonymous, a source said Beijing’s latest attempt at psychological warfare through heavily biased online media is aimed at sowing discord and polarizing Taiwanese society, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. The council’s comment came in response to Chinese network Southeast Television, which late last month began broadcasting an online program featuring commentary by Taiwanese unification supporters that authorities suspect was filmed illegally in Taiwan. To circumvent cross-strait regulations, the broadcaster collaborated with online service provider Baidu to air the series titles Diverse Voices From the Taiwan Strait (台海百家說). Only Taiwanese are shown on camera, without revealing the host, interviewer or production team. In one video, political commentator and
RULES IGNORED: CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang said that crew members who break the rules would be required to complete the full 14-day quarantine Three EVA Airways flight attendants were fired last month and this month after they failed to follow the government’s quarantine requirements. This was the first time that flight attendants have lost their jobs for quarantine failures. One flight attendant reportedly breached the quarantine mandate by going to school, visiting relatives and dining with friends, while lying to the company about her activities, EVA Air said. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) have established disease prevention measures for cabin crew members, such as monitoring their health and reporting their temperature daily, the company said. While on flight duty, crew
A group of overseas Taiwanese in Norway are taking a case on their national identity to the European Court of Human Rights — with plans to file the case in the first half of next year — after Norway’s Supreme Court rejected their appeal to change their listed nationality from “China” to “Taiwan,” Joseph Liu, a Taiwanese lawyer living in Norway, told reporters on Monday. One of the initiators of the movement, “My Name, My Right,” Liu and his group plan to hire lawyers from the UK and France who know European law and have knowledge of Asia to represent them,
SUPPRESSION: Michael Tsai, a former defense minister, said that Beijing’s list of Taiwan independence advocates contravenes the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights The best way to respond to threats from China against Taiwan independence advocates is for the president to publicly reiterate Taiwan’s sovereignty, former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said on Sunday. Chinese media on Nov. 15 said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was compiling “a list of stubborn Taiwanese separatists and will severely punish them in accordance with [China’s] Anti-Secession Law and hold them accountable for their actions for the rest of their lives.” Chinese media subsequently accused Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of being a “first-rate war criminal,” because of his policy on mask exports. “The vast majority
RSS