SACRAMENTO, May 11 (UPI) -- Aerospace and defense company Boeing has contracted Aerojet to support the U.S. Army's AH-64D Apache Block III helicopter program.
Aerojet, which has headquarters in California, received the award to provide Boeing with heavy alloy weights as part of the Apache helicopter low rate initial production requirements.
The heavy alloy weights will support Boeing's Composite Main Rotor Blade program for the Apache Block III production that includes approximately 43 aircraft.
The Composite Main Rotor Blades are designed to help lower the Apache program's operational and support costs for the Army. Additionally the blade solution is part of an effort to strengthen effectiveness.
"Simply put, Composite Main Rotor Blades improves aircraft performance, improves overall aircraft readiness, reduces life-cycle costs and reduces pilot workload," Col. Shane Openshaw, Army Apache Attack Helicopter project manager, said in a statement.
