According to the U.S. State Department, hundreds of aging AH-64D Apache attack helicopters will be withdrawn from U.S. Army’s arsenal, thus freeing up space for new developments in this area, or new helicopters, Boyko Nikolov reports on Bulgarian Military.

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AH-64 Apache displayed at BSDA 2018 in Bucharest, Romania (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The United States Government (USG) Army Contracting Command- Redstone Arsenal (ACC-RSA) is conducting market research to determine potential sources for the depopulation of the Apache AH-64D for the Project Manager for Apache Attack Helicopter (PM AAH) within the Program Executive Office for Aviation (PEO AVN). The USG seeks to identify potential sources that possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to meet the requirements necessary to depopulate the Apache AH-64D Attack Helicopter, sourced directly to the Government.

According to U.S. sources, the U.S. will try to follow a plan that allows up to 7 helicopters to be dismantled per month, which will provide years of work for the company that will win the tender to dismantle these obsolete helicopters. According to a circulated document from the U.S. State Department, work on the repair and dismantling of AH-64D Apache helicopters is expected to begin in early 2022 and be completed within five years (until 2027).

The possibility of small repairs on specific components of the machines is not excluded, which would increase the life cycle of these components and their use as spare parts.