Army: AH-64E Apaches Are A-OK; Transmission Problem Didn’t Hit Cost Or Schedule

The Army’s newest attack helicopter is on track, the colonel in charge said in response to congressional concerns: Delays in manufacturing transmissions for the Boeing-built AH-64E Guardian have neither driven up the price nor slowed its fielding to combat units. [But there are still unflyable AH-64Es on the Army’s hands: click here to read the latest on this story] “Financial issues with Northstar Aerospace, Boeing’s main transmission supplier, resulted in a shortage of transmissions at the AH-64E assembly line,” Col. Jeff Hager, the project manager for the Apache, wrote me in an email. But the Army and industry have reordered and reorganized production to keep the shortage of one part from affecting the program as a whole, he went on, so they have “kept the fielding of the AH-64E Apaches on schedule and…also avoided cost increases.” “The government does not pay in full for the aircraft until it is 100 percent operational and ready for fielding,” Col. Hager told me today, after a week of detailed back-and-forth brokered by a long-suffering Army press officer. Note the colonel’s caveat: “The government does not pay in full.” That means the Army is withholding some money from the contractor for unfinished helicopters. How much? Legislators could still get on the service’s case for not withholding what they consider enough to incentivize Boeing to finish the job fast (or to punish Boeing for not having finished it already). Last we checked, Congress was still waiting on an official response from the Army. Here’s the backstory: The Government Accountability Office reported two problems with the AH-64E transmission back in March: First, Northstar’s troubles led to “seven aircraft being produced without transmissions”; Second, “operator concerns with the new transmission design” might require the Army “to identify a new design.” Then, last week, we learned Congress was demanding an explanation from the Army to ensure the service wasn’t accepting– let alone paying for — unfinished aircraft that couldn’t actually fly. Those unspecified “operator concerns” seem to be a non-issue. Congress isn’t asking about them, and the Army is sticking with the current design, which has passed all the service’s tests. “There is nothing wrong with the Apache transmission,” said Col. Hager. “We are not fielding nor accepting any aircraft with bad transmissions because there aren’t any.” The problems “will not impact the AH-64E fielding plan, there is no additional cost to the Apache program, and all aircraft fielded to units is 100% fully operational,” Col. Hager said. “The AH-64E program is on cost and on schedule.” The trouble with the transmissions is strictly financial, not mechanical. Northstar Aerospace — which was sold last fall — had business troubles that led it to fall behind on production. But the Army says it and Boeing were able to rejigger other parts of the production process so combat units still got their helicopters on time. The Army hasn’t accepted any helicopters that didn’t have transmissions, it says, and now has 33 AH-64Es in hand. So is this a tempest in a teapot? Perhaps. Congress was concerned enough to demand answers from the Army. And this is an important program to keep a close eye on. The Army is relying on incremental upgrades to existing helicopters, instead of buying new designs, to keep up with growing threats on a shrinking budget, and that means the AH-64E is going to be the service’s most advanced aircraft for a long time to come. Getting it right is important. Now we’ll have to see if Congress is satisfied.

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Col. Jeff Hager

Army: AH-64E Apaches Are A-OK; Transmission Problem Didn’t Hit Cost Or Schedule

Posted on April 25, 2013

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