Leonardo to provide UK defensive aids suite for British Army’s new Apache AH-64E helicopters
Santiago, 3 April 2018
Leonardo has announced, at the FIDAE exhibition in Chile (3-8 April), that
it has been contracted by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide a defensive aids suite
(DAS) for the British Army’s new fleet of Apache AH-64E helicopters. Under related contracts from
the UK MOD and Boeing, Leonardo will integrate sensors and countermeasures to ensure that UK
Apaches remain amongst the best protected attack helicopters in the world.
Combat helicopters like the Apache fly at relatively low speeds compared to fighter jets and often
at low altitudes, so they are vulnerable to a wide range of threats including infrared-guided missiles
and anti-tank guided weapons. An integrated defensive aids suite helps protect a helicopter from
threats in a joined-up way. A complete system includes sensors to identify threats to the helicopter,
countermeasures to defeat these threats and a computer that coordinates the whole system,
linking the incoming warnings with protection techniques such as chaff or flares.
Minister for Defence Procurement Guto Bebb said “UK Apaches provide our Armed Forces with
world-leading capabilities in the field of combat. Today’s announcement will see our aircraft fitted
with cutting-edge British protection to rapidly detect and defeat inbound threats. This is a welcome
boost for UK jobs and investment which is part of the Government’s recently announced Defence
Industrial Policy Refresh.”
Every Apache AH-64E that comes off the production line, regardless of its end user, already has a
built-in Leonardo defensive aids suite computer, known as an ‘AGP’ (Aircraft Gateway Processor).
This project will see Leonardo take the UK’s Apache defensive aids suite a step further by
integrating a number of sensors and countermeasure systems onto the AH-64E to enhance its
situational awareness and survivability.
The helicopters’ sensor fit will include Leonardo’s SG200-D radar warning receiver (the UK-specific
variant of the company’s SEER family) and will re-use a number of systems that are currently onboard
the Army’s fleet of Apache AH Mk1. These re-used sensors and effectors include
Leonardo’s S1223 laser warning receiver, the BAE Systems AN/AAR-57 missile approach warner
and the Thales Vicon countermeasure dispensing system. Initially these systems will be taken from
spares stores and the remainder will become available when the AH Mk1s retire from service in
2023/24. This means that the British Army will experience a seamless transition to the new
helicopter type with both old and new models being equipped with integrated protective suites on
operations.
Integration will be conducted by Leonardo in Luton and the complete system will then be installed
by Boeing on its AH-64E production line in the United States. All 50 helicopters being procured by
the UK MoD will be capable of operating with the integrated defensive aids suite.
A key benefit to the British Army of equipping the Apache AH-64E with a UK sovereign defensive
aids capability is that the MOD will be able to continue to re-program the helicopter’s defensive
aids suite to respond to changing battlefield conditions. This is a critical support function known as
‘Electronic Warfare Operational Support’, or ‘EWOS’, which the UK has developed a world-leading
capability in at the MoD’s Air Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington, supported by Leonardo at its
EWOS facility in nearby Lincoln. Being able to keep the defensive suite up-to-date without needing
to consult another country gives the UK essential freedom of operation.
Leonardo already provides defensive aid suites across the UK Armed Forces’ helicopter fleet and
provides EWOS support to all of these platforms. Existing Apache AH Mk1 helicopters are all
equipped with the company’s HIDAS system, which stands for ‘Helicopter Integrated Defensive
Aids Suite’. Leonardo’s AW159 Wildcat helicopters, which are operated by the British Army and
Royal Navy, also carry HIDAS systems.
As well as providing defensive aids suites for new UK helicopters, Leonardo has retro-fitted all of
the UK’s Chinook helicopters with defensive aids suite capabilities (including the latest HC Mk 6
standard). Under this project, Leonardo brought together all of the Chinook’s existing sensor and
effector systems into an integrated system that offers similar decision making capabilities to the
HIDAS system. The company has also conducted a similar retro-fit integration on the UK’s Puma
fleet and is currently doing so for the Merlin helicopter under the HC Mk 4 upgrade programme.
Like the Apache AH-64E, both RAF Puma and Chinook helicopters are also receiving updated
radar warning capabilities in the form of Leonardo’s SG200-D which in the case of the Puma and
Chinook is replacing the platforms’ previously installed Leonardo Sky Guardian 200 systems.
In addition to helicopters, Leonardo also provides integrated defensive aids protection for combat
jets, leading the EuroDASS consortium (which also includes Leonardo’s Italian partner Elettronica
as well as Hensoldt in Germany and Indra in Spain) to provide the Praetorian Defensive Aids Sub
System for the Eurofighter Typhoon jet. The company has recently been contracted to upgrade the
system on RAF Typhoons to ensure that Praetorian can continue to identify and defeat known and
emerging threats.