Boeing Rapidly Deploys Blade Fold System for US Army
Apaches
Called “the toughest combat aircraft in the world”
the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow multi-role combat helicopter has a
newly designed main rotor blade fold system which adds flexibility
to the U.S. Army’s deployment planning for force insertion.
In April the U.S. Army demonstrated that Apaches could be deployed
from Fort Hood, Texas, to the Middle East is as little as 66 hours
–the time from notification to operation in the field.
In November 2002, the Army asked Boeing to develop a system that
would substantially reduce the time it takes to reassemble and have
Apaches ready to fly after they roll off a transport. The blade
fold system, produced by Boeing in Mesa, Ariz., speeds deployment
of the Apaches shipped by cargo aircraft.
The new blade fold system allows the main rotor blades to be
folded along the aircraft’s length without being removed. The
solution also provides for storage of the Apache Longbow’s
radar dome on the aircraft aft of the rotor hub for transport. The
first 24 units were designed, developed and delivered in March,
four months after the initial request and ahead of schedule.
“It took just 120 days to bring this program
from idea to delivery,” said John Pennypacker, Boeing Blade
Fold Project lead. “A total of 48 units were delivered by mid
April with the last six units delivered one month early. It is a
truly amazing accomplishment.”
The blade fold system also saves space. A single C-5 aircraft
can carry six Apaches, their flight crews, reassembly technicians
and their tools. In the past, a second aircraft was needed to haul
in special reassembly equipment, and additional personnel. The
blades had to be removed and stored along with the radar apart from
the aircraft, taking up space in the cargo airplane and requiring
more time to reassemble at the Apaches’ destination.
“Not only is the need for a test flight eliminated,”
continued Pennypacker, “but much of the equipment normally
needed to lift the blades and radar into place is also eliminated,
saving even more space.” This concept was recently verified
at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, A Boeing team
trained and assisted an Army unit in preparing six Apaches, loading
& unloading then onto a C-5 transport aircraft, and reassembly
and flyaway of the helicopters.