Dubai Airshow 2021: UAE Apaches to receive local repair and sustainment
An AH-64D Apache helicopter belonging to the UAE Joint Aviation Command, pictured after take-off from a USN vessel in June 2020. (Photo: USN/ Chief Logistics Specialist Thomas Joyce)
Proposed deal between EDGE subsidiary and Lockheed Martin would localise support for the Apache fire control system in the UAE.
UAE-based defence conglomerate EGDE has signed an MoU with long-standing partner Lockheed Martin to ‘enhance capabilities for [UAE AH-64D] Apache pilots’..
The MoU for a Special Repair Activity (SRA), signed on 15 November in a ceremony during the Dubai Airshow 2021, the EARTH business within EDGE will localise Modernised Targeting and Designator Sensor (M-TADS) repair and sustainment activities in the UAE.
M-TADS is the EO-based fire control system for the Apache.
EDGE and Lockheed Martin envisage the M-TADS SRA as a long-term partnership to blend ‘Lockheed Martin’s decades of experience in integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems and EARTH’s in-depth understanding of the regional and global defence landscape’.
EARTH and Lockheed Martin will also explore ‘innovative ways to localise critical aspects of sustainment of Apaches flown by the [UAE] Joint Aviation Command’, EDGE added in a statement.
UAE Joint Aviation Command operates a fleet of 30 Apaches, with another ten on order.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Dubai Airshow 2021 News
-
![Dubai Airshow 2021: UAE to host ViDAR centre of excellence]()
Dubai Airshow 2021: UAE to host ViDAR centre of excellence
Will the ViDAR SCAR reconnaissance pod make an impact in the Middle Eastern ISR market?
-
![Dubai Airshow 2021: Horizon Technologies and Airborne Technologies GmbH team up]()
Dubai Airshow 2021: Horizon Technologies and Airborne Technologies GmbH team up
Horizon Technologies and Airborne Technologies to jointly develop BlackFish SCAR-Pods.
-
![Defence Insight - A400M for Indonesia]()
Defence Insight - A400M for Indonesia
The Indonesian MoD placed an order for two A400M aircraft in multirole tanker and transport configuration, according to the Airbus announcement on 18 November 2021.
-
![Dubai Airshow 2021: All relatively quiet on the F-35 front]()
Dubai Airshow 2021: All relatively quiet on the F-35 front
A planned $23 billion FMS package for the UAE has still not been fully approved, 12 months after it was first proposed.
-
![Spotlight on Dubai Airshow 2021 and global second-hand armoured vehicles market (Podcast)]()
Spotlight on Dubai Airshow 2021 and global second-hand armoured vehicles market (Podcast)
Welcome to Episode 46 of the third series of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more.
-
![Dubai Airshow 2021: Indonesia enlists A400M for military use]()
Dubai Airshow 2021: Indonesia enlists A400M for military use
As well as finally ordering the A400M, an aircraft Indonesia has been contemplating for some time, the Asian country has agreed to continue financing the KF-21 fighter programme.
