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By Neil Baumgardner
WASHINGTON--A heavy variant of the RAH-66 Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopter being developed by Boeing (BA) and Sikorsky (UTX) has been slated to replace Boeing's venerable AH-64 Apache attack helicopter starting about 2025, according to Army officials.
"As we looked down the road, we see that Comanche is envisioned to be both the reconnaissance and the attack platform for the future, for the Objective Force," Army Maj. Gen. John Curran, the commander of the Army's aviation center at Ft. Rucker, Ala., told reporters during the Association of the United States Army's transformation seminar last week here.s "You will see a heavy attack variant that will ultimately be fielded as we start to look down about when Alpha- model Apaches and Longbow Apaches start to disappear due to age...We're talking 2025, 2030. When we start seeing some of those older platforms coming out, Comanche will then start to step in."
The Army has planned for a continuous modernization plan for the Apache, which first entered production in 1983.
The Army and Boeing are currently remanufacturing and upgrading the AH-64A model Apaches to the AH-64D Apache and Apache Longbow configurations, but no new Apaches for the service have been produced since 1996.
The continuous modernization program calls for a series of rolling upgrades to the Apache fleet every 10 years.
The Army has...