AH-64 Apache attack copters bound for Oahu post after all

A new AH-64 Apache attack helicopter squadron and hundreds of jobs at Wheeler Army Airfield are back on track with the passage Friday of a $1.1 trillion government spending bill.

The 2,009-page bill contains language allowing the transfer of 48 Apaches from the National Guard to the active-duty Army — including 24 to be assigned to Wheeler in March and expected to be delivered by mid-June, said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s office.

“I am pleased we were able to write this provision so that Hawaii would not be at risk of losing the soldiers and families with the 2-6 Cavalry Squadron and that U.S. Army Pacific’s combat readiness would not be degraded,” said Schatz, a member of the Appropriations Committee who also is on its defense subcommittee. “This is good news for Hawaii, the Army and the country.”

That risk came in the form of separate defense appropriations bills. The fiscal 2016 Senate bill would have prohibited the use of funds to transfer more than 36 Apaches from the National Guard to the active-duty Army, and with three bases seeking the aircraft — Wheeler; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Fort Drum, N.Y. — it’s unclear what the distribution would have been, Schatz officials said.

The House defense appropriations bill, meanwhile, completely prohibited the transfer of any Apaches from the National Guard in fiscal 2016 — which would have degraded readiness for the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, according to Schatz’s office.

The omnibus bill approved Friday resolves part of the issue by allowing the transfer of 48 Apaches through June 30 — while giving Congress the ability to review proposed future helicopter shifts from the National Guard. Schatz had argued that reassigning fewer than 48 helicopters could have undermined Army readiness in the Pacific.

The anticipated arrival in Hawaii of AH-64D Longbow Apaches is part of a controversial Army cost-cutting plan to retire its aging OH-58 Kiowa Warriors and replace them with Apaches taken from National Guard units around the country. In turn, National Guard units would get Black Hawk utility helicopters.

The National Guard objected vociferously, and a commission looking at the issue has a Feb. 1 deadline to report back to Congress.

When Wheeler’s 25 OH-58 Kiowas with the 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, were retired in February, most of the Hawaii unit’s soldiers were sent to South Korea on a nine-month rotational tour, using helicopters already there.

Those soldiers returned in October — and are waiting to be re-equipped with Apaches. The gap has left the Army in Hawaii without a dedicated scout and attack helicopter battalion.

In the meantime the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade has been sending some pilots to other units to train on Apaches, the division said.

“The division is looking forward to the arrival of the Apache helicopters,” said spokesman Lt. Col. Rob Phillips. “This will give the division added capability that was lost with the retirement of the Kiowa series of helicopter.”

After South Korea, 2nd Squadron soldiers were given leave through the end of November, Phillips said. Since returning to work the squadron has focused on individual training, he said.

The size of the squadron also will increase from approximately 350 soldiers to more than 400 with the arrival of the AH-64s and personnel needed for a platoon of Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles. The Army previously said the Apaches would be paired with 12 Shadows in Hawaii for a dual attack and scout role.

The 25th Infantry Division also is bringing in a platoon of four Apaches from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade in Washington state from January to May for training and exercise support before the arrival of Wheeler’s choppers in April, Phillips said.

Schofield Barracks previously said the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade had about 2,100 soldiers in Hawaii as well as about a dozen CH-47 twin-rotor Chinooks and just over 50 UH-60 Black Hawks. The 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry, deployed to Iraq in 2006 and 2009, and to Afghanistan in 2012.

The Kiowas in 1999 replaced the AH-1F Cobra in Hawaii, which was the Army’s first dedicated attack helicopter.

In a sign of the Army’s ongoing commitment to the aviation brigade, two buildings are being built as part of a $125 million barracks project for the unit at Wheeler, with completion expected in fall 2017, the division said.

Eight AH-64E Guardian Apaches, the latest model, were shipped to Hawaii from Colorado in June 2014 for temporary training. Four of those choppers were deployed to the Asia-Pacific region for exercises, and the arriving Apaches are expected to be a key engagement tool with other militaries in the Pacific.

Based on an Army “Aviation Restructure Initiative” brief given to the secretary of the Army for the Apache National Guard and active-duty swap, five of the Hawaii attack helicopters would come from Utah, five from North Carolina, five from Mississippi and nine from Texas.