Six more Apache helicopters received, set to be moved
ROC Central News Agency
2014/03/19 12:26:48
Taipei, March 19 (CNA) Six more AH-64E Apache attack helicopters purchased from the United States were being prepped Wednesday to fly to a base in Tainan after arriving in neighboring Kaohsiung the previous evening, a military source said.
The six choppers will fly from southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung Harbor to an Army Aviation Special Forces base in Tainan over the next three days after unloading, assembly and standard checks are finished, the source said.
The six helicopters are the third shipment in a 30-helicopter package costing Taiwan more than US$2 billion. They were scheduled to arrive Monday but were delayed by bad marine weather, the source said.
Receiving the advanced helicopters has not gone entirely without snags. Taiwan was notified by the U.S. in mid-December of a main transmission failure on an Apache AH-64E in service in the U.S., forcing Taiwan to ground the first six helicopters it received in November.
The second shipment was also been grounded immediately after arriving in early January.
All 12 helicopters, however, have been put back into service with new main transmission boxes after completing test flights and safety verifications, according to an Army official.
The Army said it has begun moving the 12 helicopters to an Army base in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, where all 30 of the Apaches will eventually be stationed.
The final two shipments of six helicopters each will come with new transmissions already installed. The first is expected in May followed by the final shipment in July, the source said.
The model E is the latest in the Apache attack helicopter series. The U.S. and Taiwan are the only two countries to use it so far.
(By Elaine Hou)
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