Boeing expects to shutter its production of the Little Bird light helicopter after fulfilling a current contract with the Thai armed forces. The Little Bird is well known for its continued service with the U.S. Army’s famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), which operates the helicopter in AH-6 light attack and MH-6 assault configurations. Boeing has been able to secure just two export sales of its ‘international’ AH-6i variant to Saudi Arabia and Thailand in the past 15 years. A separate company, MD Helicopters, also produces Little Bird variants and looks set to continue to do so.
Multiple outlets have reported Boeing’s plans to close out its Little Bird production line. The company disclosed the news at the DefenceIQ International Military Helicopter conference in London, which opened yesterday.
“We are probably going to cease production on the AH-6i,” Mark Ballew, Boeing’s director for Vertical-Lift Program Business Development and Strategy, told Aviation Week. “We will complete production for Thailand, but right now, unless there is another country that came along immediately and said we want AH-6 today, it would still be a challenge as there would be a gap in production.”
Ballew also “suggested that rebuilding the supply chain for the aircraft would not only take time, but also make the aircraft more expensive to produce,” according to Aviation Week‘s report.
TWZ has reached out to Boeing directly for more information.
Boeing is currently working on delivering eight AH-6is to the Royal Thai Army under a contract finalized back in 2022, valued at just under $104 million. The U.S. government had approved that sale in 2019.
The single turbine engine AH-6i is an evolution of the OH-6 Cayuse, originally developed by Hughes Helicopters in the 1960s and made famous by its service with the U.S. Army as a light scout helicopter during the Vietnam War, and subsequent H-6 variants based around the improved Model 500 design. McDonnell Douglas acquired Hughes Helicopters in 1984. Boeing subsequently absorbed McDonnell Douglas, to include the Little Bird and the rest of the former Hughes Helicopter product line, in 1997.
The Little Bird’s story has become somewhat confusing in that Boeing sold off virtually all of its inherited Hughes Helicopter product line, with the prominent exception of the AH-64 Apache, in 1999 to what has become MD Helicopters. However, Boeing continued to work with the Little Bird design after that, including upgraded Mission Enhanced Little Birds (MELB) for the 160th SOAR.
The company also developed an uncrewed H-6U version and an improved light attack variant dubbed the AH-6S. The AH-6S was pitched to the U.S. Army for its abortive Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) program. The export AH-6i is based on the AH-6S.
As already noted, Boeing has found just two customers for the AH-6i, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, the latter of which ordered 24 examples for the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) in 2014. Jordan signed a letter of intent to buy at least 18 AH-6is in 2010, but an expected contract never materialized.
By comparison, MD Helicopters has enjoyed significant success in the international military market with Hughes Model 500-derived Little Birds, as well as sales of related commercial variants. This includes dozens of MD-530FU light attack variants delivered to the now-defunct Afghan Air Force, some of which made their way back to the United States after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
What level of involvement Boeing expects to continue to have in supporting the 160th SOAR’s Little Bird fleet going forward is unclear. The Army had previously expected to replace around half of its AH-6/MH-6s with a special operations version of the design selected for the service’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program. However, FARA was canceled last year and the 160th is now looking, at least in the near term, at options for further upgrades to its Little Bird fleet, as you can read more about here.
For Boeing, plans to shed the Little Bird production line also come amid significant turmoil across its military and commercial portfolios. This has translated to major delays on very-high-profile programs, including new Air Force One jets for the U.S. Air Force, and billions in financial losses. In 2023, the company had also announced its intention to shutter production of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter and refocus those resources elsewhere, again citing a lack of new customers.
Unless a major new customer for the AH-6i emerges soon, Boeing’s part of the Little Bird story looks set to come to end, though versions of the iconic helicopter will remain in production through MD Helicopters.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com