First mentioned earlier at TMH here, the Korean military was merely mulled over the idea of buying refurbed AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters. Per yesterday’s KT, the Defense Ministry says they will go through with it by purchasing 18 refurbs operational by 2012.
Other bits from the article:
- Korea will apparently still go through with its own “indigenous” KAH attack helicopter program. The Apaches will apparently be considered “heavy” attack choppers whereas the KAH will be “medium.”
- Korea will have the option of buying 18 additional Apaches in 2014.
- The Apaches will replace ROK’s aging fleet of AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter.
- It is not certain if these will be Apache block I or II refurbs. The latest, block III, are still being built and Korea would have to get them new. Apparently new block III AH-64Ds are cheaper than refurbs!
- One of the two battalions of Apaches usually stationed in Korea is supposed to be deployed elsewhere and replaced with A-10 ground attack fixed wing aircraft. However, the USFK will swap the A-10s temporarily with F-16s, which are not really “close ground support” aircraft, the main role that the departing Apaches fill.
Resources are finite. Buy new American bang bang choppers? Buy used ones? Develop your own? Buy Euro bang bang choppers? Choices… Choices…
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Boeing builds the fuselage right here in Korea. I am sure there will be some offset negotiations that will lower the cost even further.
I’ve always liked Airwolf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr_CJL1YQRc
Remember Airwolf vs. Redwolf?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcahV1JfCmY&feature=related
Yeah. As a kid I used to watch Airwolf, A-team, Macgyver, Knight Rider on my parents giant Zenith TV with wood panels and then go play on my Atari 5200 with my grand total of two games, Super Breakout and Centipede, and go to sleep thinking life was wonderful. Man, those were the days.
@3
Have you ever heard the spoken word work of Ernie Cline?
http://www.ernestcline.com/
I think you might enjoy “Airwolf”
Refurbed Apaches? What is the manufacture’s warranty? 90 Days?
Economy crisis does really affect everything, huh?
Typical warranty on military hardware purchases is 1 year.
Block 3 Apache’s may come with NRE (non-recurring engineering cost), which is not included in the purchase price. For example, Taiwan’s purchase of PAC-3 missiles came with extra $800 million NRE payment to US defense industry.
If you buy a block I/II refurb Apache, the unit price may be higher, but probably won’t come with NRE on the side. HOWEVER, I’d note that US AH-64′s had very high damage rate from Iraqi ground fire. So SK military needs to examine them carefully for prior battle damage.
If you’ve ever worked in a “refurb” shop, where the “refurb” means taking components out, cleaning them, and putting them back, you’d understand what I mean.
#7 adeptitus
Thanks for the clarification.
I do know the “refurb” means as I’m in retail sector.
When we take “refurb” product it always comes with very limited duration of manufacture warranty. Which is also one of the reasons that ordinary customer doesn’t want to buy it.
I was just surprised about the “refurb” Apaches moreover Pilots will be on those “refurb” Apaches with higher risk on their life and others.
“Typical warranty on military hardware purchases is 1 year.”
Sure, but purchasing new helicopters wouldn’t create lucrative maintenance contracts for Korean corporations, would it?
Rough numbers. Apaches take 8 hrs of maintenance per hr of flying, if you’re lucky. Who’s shafting who?
Another spin on this from DefenseNews:
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3901929&c=AIR&s=TOP
From this Strategic Policy article:
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20090116.aspx
It appears that the switch from A-10 to F-16s is more of an issue of the relative ages of the planes. Most of America’s fleet of A-10s are 30 or more years old and their airframes are developing cracks.
That’s too bad… I highly respect the ground support capabillities of the A-10 and we don’t have any other plane that quite matches it in terms of ground support straffing capabillities. An F-16 plowed into the ground once because it was straffing but the plane, being a high performance jet, was just flying too fast.
#10,
Exactly.
If only people knew how often military vehicles break down (and the amount of maintenance needed to keep them going), they would read the news a lot differently. They might make wiser choices at election time, too.
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