On behalf of Team Apache Systems LLC, Lockheed Martin ceremonially delivered its first Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS), also known as Arrowhead(TM), for the AH-64 Apache helicopter to the U.S. Army today during the Army Aviation Association of America's national convention in Orlando, FL.

The Lockheed Martin Arrowhead system was presented to U.S. Army Apache Project Manager COL Ralph Pallotta by Tom Simmons, vice president, Fire Control for Lockheed Martin. More than 300 attendees were on hand for the ceremony, including U.S. Army dignitaries, Team Apache Systems subcontractors and Lockheed Martin employees who contributed to the success of the program.

"Today is a great day for the Army, for Army Aviation and for our Apache warfighters as we receive the first Modernized TADS/PNVS -- a capability that we have needed for a long time," said LTC Shane Openshaw, U.S. Army Apache sensors product manager.

"M-TADS/PNVS delivers dramatically improved performance, reliability and maintainability, ensuring Apache remains a relevant and ready capability for our Army. With M-TADS/PNVS, Apaches will be better able to get to the fight and will be able to see and engage the enemy at ranges that are unheard of today. The Apache is the best attack helicopter in the world and we just made it better. This roll-out marks the end of a tremendous effort to develop and produce the first system, and it marks the beginning of a new effort to get it fielded as quickly as possible. On behalf of the Apache aviators deployed around the world, I am deeply thankful for the outstanding team of professionals that developed and built the 'new eyes of Apache'."

"Today's delivery provides clear evidence that the Team Apache Systems (Lockheed Martin/Boeing)-Army team continues to make significant progress towards equipping the first Army aviation unit with Arrowhead," said Simmons. "Attack helicopter missions require extraordinary targeting and navigation capability as well as reliability to meet their defining moments. We will continue to work diligently to help Army Aviation be successful in its mission to get into the battle area, find, target and defeat hostile forces and return safely."

Henry Jacobsen, president of Team Apache Systems, called the Arrowhead program a "great example of teamwork between The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin."

"Lockheed has produced an outstanding product in the Arrowhead, which Boeing, as prime contractor for the Apache, has successfully integrated into the Apache weapon system. Through Team Apache Systems, we've made it all work very effectively."

Lockheed Martin's Arrowhead kit provides an advanced electro-optical targeting and pilotage system to Apache crews that will maximize safe flight in day, night and adverse-weather environments. Arrowhead continues a 20-year legacy of serving as the eyes of the Army's AH-64 Apache attack helicopter with the first fielding of the current TADS/PNVS in 1983. Arrowhead's newly designed forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors use cutting-edge image processing techniques to give pilots the best possible resolution to avoid obstacles such as wires and tree limbs during low-level flight. The roll-out of the first Arrowhead kit in an M-TADS system under the Lot 1 contract comes almost twenty-three years to the day of signing the first TADS/PNVS production contract. Several retired officers from the 1983 contract signing were present today to witness the second generation fielding of the original system.

Arrowhead improves performance and reliability of the legacy TADS system by over 150%, reduces maintenance actions by nearly 60%, and enables two-level field maintenance -- achieving a savings that approaches $1 billion in Army operation and support costs over the anticipated 20-year lifespan.

Arrowhead will be installed on AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters both in the field and in production at The Boeing Company's Mesa, AZ, facility.

Team Apache Systems (TAS) is a limited liability company comprised of Lockheed Martin Millimeter Technologies Inc., and McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (an indirect subsidiary of The Boeing Company). The major subcontractors to TAS are Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida, producers of the current generation TADS/PNVS system, and The Boeing Company rotorcraft unit in Mesa, Arizona, the makers of the AH-64 Apache helicopter.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin