Taiwan's army parks all 29 of its Apache gunships while the US checks a suspect transmission

Taiwan's army has temporarily grounded all 29 of its AH-64E Apache attack helicopters while it waits for the United States to finish inspecting and correcting a suspect transmission, the United Daily News reported on Thursday, 29 October, Taipei time. The paper said no date had been set for the helicopters to return to flight and that the stand-down was affecting the Apaches' readiness missions.

According to the report, the military is weighing whether to put some of the fleet back in the air ahead of the others because of readiness needs, starting with airframes that have logged relatively few flight hours. The newspaper also reported that the Apaches would be absent from an open day at the army's Chenggongling base in Taichung on 31 October. Taiwan's defence ministry had not publicly commented on the report at the time of writing.

A US fleet-wide stand-down

The Taiwanese grounding follows a US Army order issued on 2 October that immediately paused flight operations for AH-64E Apaches fitted with the Improved Drive System transmission. A US Army official told Military Times that about 400 of the service's roughly 700 Apaches were affected, that aircraft from every active-duty and National Guard Apache unit were included, and that the pause was expected to last months while the service carried out a global inspection.

The Army said the decision followed technical and airworthiness assessments that drew on earlier safety-of-flight actions, inspection results, maintenance reports and engineering analysis. Military Times reported that Army safety records show four major flight mishaps involving the AH-64E in the last fiscal year, including one described as a catastrophic transmission failure, and that an Army investigation reported in May had found the main transmission could fail internally in a way that cuts tail rotor thrust, electrical power and hydraulics.

The order came weeks after a separate, brief grounding of the whole US Apache fleet in August, when an older-model AH-64 crashed near Fort Hood, Texas, killing both pilots. US officials have said transmission problems were not behind that crash.

Inspections still under way

On 15 October the US Army said teams from its Corpus Christi Army Depot had been sent to Fort Rucker and Fort Drum to remove and stage transmissions so that manufacturer technicians could carry out safety-of-flight checks, with removals at Fort Drum completed by mid-October. Stars and Stripes reported on 28 October that the Army had not responded to a question about the current status of the grounding, in a story about Morocco taking delivery of six more AH-64Es.

Why it matters

The AH-64E is the most capable attack helicopter in Taiwan's inventory and a central part of plans to strike an amphibious force at sea and on the beaches. Because the fleet's fix depends on US engineering findings and parts, a long American inspection queue could keep the whole Taiwanese Apache force on the ground, which is why the reported option of releasing low-hour helicopters early would matter for coverage of the coast in the meantime.