February3, 2007:
While all U.S. Army active duty AH-64s are using the Longbow fire
control and all-weather radar system, several hundred reserve AH-64s are older
models are not. So the army is upgrading the reserve unit AH-64s to AH-64D
(Longbow equipped) standards. Currently, 126 older AH-64s are undergoing the
upgrade. However, 30 of these older helicopters belong to a foreign user (the
United Arab Emirates). The other 96 belong to the army reserve. It will cost
about $9.2 million to upgrade each helicopter and this lot will be finished by
2010. The Longbow gear not only enables the AH-64 to operate at night, and in
bad weather, but also makes it much easier for the crew to find targets. The
sensors are also useful for scouting in general. With magnification, the
sensors enable the helicopter to fly out of machine-gun range (5,000 feet
altitude), and still make out what's happening on the ground.