Description

The Weapon System

The AH-64 Apache is the US Army's principal gunship/antitank helicopter. The AH-64 is intended primarily for the anti-tank role, with an all-weather/night operating capability. It is relatively fast and maneuverable, carries a large anti-armor weapons load, has reduced radar and infrared (IR) signatures, is damage-resistant against most small and medium anti-aircraft artillery, and is crashworthy. The entire airframe is designed to be invulnerable to 12.7-mm rounds. In addition, most vital components can sustain hits from 23-mm rounds and allow continued flight to a safe landing. The core of the avionics is the Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot's Night Vision Sensor (TADSPNVS) linked to Integrated Helmet and Display Sight System (IHADSS) worn by both crewmembers.

The apache is the Army's largest consumer of O&S dollars, and the system's O&S cost driver is the TADS/PNVS. The original Apache R-TOC approach was based on Prime Vendor Support (PVS), a contractor partnership logistics support initiative that assumes total nose-to-tail responsibility for wholesale supply support of the Apache helicopter. The proposal included performance guarantees, modernization through spare parts, and contractor partnerships with Army depots. The PVS proposal was held up within the Army due to Army Working Capital Fun inventory ownership and accountability requirements. The revised R-TOC approach includes system recapitalization (including remanufacture of selected systems into the Longbow conversion), and continued development of O&S reduction proposals through various funding programs.

Production Status, Population, and Planned Life

A total of 758 1075 Apaches were produced for U.S. or foreign military sales; 731 were on-hand with U.S. forces as of April 03, including 285 of the more capable AH-64D model. has been delivered to the Army and are in 25 Attack Battalions Ç16 active, 2 reserve, and 7 National GuardThe Apache is assigned to 35 Army battalions in CONUS and overseas, including 17 regular army, 16 National Guard, and 2 reserve. Deployment began in 1986 and was completed in 1995. The Apache's life cycle extends out to the year 2029. About 213 helicopters have been delivered to Egypt, Greece, Israel, Kuwait, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom with future deliveries planned for Korea and Singapore.

Prime contractor: Boeing-Lockheed Martin (partnership).

Office of Primary Responsibility: Project Manager, Apache Attack Helicopter

R-TOC Focus Areas: (From USD (AT&L) memorandum dated May 10, 1999)

1. Reduced demand from weapon systems via reliability and maintainability improvements

The program office has identified the principal O&S cost drivers and has developed proposals through programs such as COSSI, OSCR, VECPs, etc., to correct these problems.

The Apache recapitalization program is the combination of several initiatives:

• The re-manufacture of the Apache A-Model to the Longbow, which will improve reliability in terms of Mean Time Between Mission Failure (MTBF (M)) and Mean Time Between Essential Maintenance Activity (MTBEMA).
• The Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sight (MTADS/PNVS) will replace the system's principal O&S cost driver, which accounts for 30% of O&S costs as well as significant performance and obsolescence issues.
• Reliability and Safety (R&S) fixes have been identified and funded for existing systems
• Recapitalization calls for "the rebuild and selected upgrade through technology insertion of currently fielded systems seeking to systematically reduce O&S costs while increasing platform service life as well as maintaining operational readiness." The Recapitalization Baseline has been approved by the PEO. The Apache recap objectives include:
• Selected component recapitalization overhauls to a "like new" standard.

Recapitalization calls for "the rebuild and selected upgrade through technology insertion of currently fielded systems seeking to systematically reduce O&S costs while increasing platform service life as well as maintaining operational readiness." The Recapitalization Baseline has been approved by the PEOVice Chief of Staff of the Army. The Apache recap program goals are:

• Reduce the overall average fleet age to 10 years by 2010
• Increase the unscheduled meant time between removal by 20% for the selected recap components
• Generate a 20% ROI for the top ten recapitalized cost drivers.

Other expected benefits are:

• Increase performance and warfighting capability
• Increase reliability, sustainability, readiness, and safety
• Reduce obsolescence
• Achieve 20% reduction in O&S costs.

Sandia Labs. has also been contracted to develop an Apache Recapitalization Model to optimize the recap process. An Apache Baseline Model is being developed, which is populated with existing failure and maintenance data from a wide range of government and contractor data sources, including Operations and Support Management Information System (OSMIS), the Provisioning Master Record, and Boeing reliability and maintainability information. When completed, the model will be able to predict the impacts of planned recap components and subsystems as well as other cost and availability drivers. The result will be improved data collection, reduce O&S costs, improved system reliability and availability, and reduced maintenance burden.

2. Reduced supply chain response times, leading to reduced spares, system support footprint, and depot needs

• Streamlined logistics system featuring a single process and a single manager
• Deployable depots

3. Competitive sourcing of product support, leading to streamlining and overhead reductions

• The remanufacture program provides for Contractor Logistics Support for Longbow-unique aircraft components and training devices.