$103.8 million Contract awarded to Boeing for Building AH-6 light attack helicopters for Thailand !

• Thailand will receive Boeing AH-6 light attack and reconnaissance rotorcraft , with a USD103.8 million contract.
• Announcement was done by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on 18 February.
• ‘Little Bird' helicopters will be built at Boeing's Mesa facility in Arizona, till 30 May 2025.

Military helicopter wing at the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Mesa, Arizona, will get busy shortly to build AH-6 light helicopter gunships for the government of Thailand , a Major Non-NATO ally in INDO-PACOM.

Though exact number of rotorcraft were not revealed, Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, announced a $103.8 million contract to Boeing Friday to build AH-6 light helicopter gunships for Thailand.

The Boeing AH-6 is a series of light helicopter gunships based on the basic MH-6 Little Bird and MD 500 family of light military helicopters, which includes the unmanned Little Bird (ULB) demonstrator, the A/MH-6X mission enhanced little bird (MELB), and the AH-6 and AH-6S.

Earlier, Jordan had expressed interest in ordering the AH-6i in May 2010 and months later , in October 2010 Saudi Arabia requested 36 AH-6i aircraft with related equipment and weapons from the United States through a Foreign Military Sale.

The 2019 FMS (Foreign Military Sale) Approval !

The U.S. State Department in 2019 had approved the Foreign Military Sale to Thailand of eight (8) AH-6i light attack reconnaissance helicopters and related equipment for an estimated cost of $400 million , meant to replace the country's aging fleet of seven Bell AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters.

At that time, the Government of Thailand had requested to buy eight (8) AH-6i light attack reconnaissance helicopters ; fifty (50) AGM-114R Hellfire missiles ; and two-hundred (200) Advance Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Rockets .

Other requested equipments included are ten (10) M134 Mini Guns, ten (10) M260 Rocket Launchers; ten (10) M299 Longbow Hellfire Launcher; ten (10) AN/APN-209 Radar Altimeter; eight (8) AN/APR-39(V)(4) four (4) GAU-19/B .50 Cal Machine Gun; five-hundred (500) Hydra 70 Rockets; twenty (20) AN/AVS-6 Night Vision Goggles; eight (8) WESCAM MX-10Di Cameras; ten (10) AN/APX-123 IFF; ten (10) AN/ARC 201E-VHF-FM; ten (10) AN/ARC-231 w/ MX-4027; ten (10) LN-251 Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (EGI).

Training was also the part of the request , as Thailand had asked for the Aircrew Trainer (ACT) ; Pilot Desktop Trainer (PDT); Virtual Maintenance Trainer (VMT;, contractor provided pilot and maintainer training peculiar ground support equipment; spares; publications; integrated product support; technical assistance; quality assurance team; transportation; and other related elements of logistics and program support. 

AH-6 General characteristics

AH-6 Performance

The AH-6 avionics benefits from the software developed for the Army Boeing AH-64 Longbow attack helicopter. Its avionics are based on an open architecture, have a flexible mission configuration, digital cockpit , full-color, touch-screen multifunction displays, and engine infrared suppression.