Boeing To Cease Production Of AH-6i Little Bird

LONDON—Boeing is planning to cease production of its AH-6i Little Bird single-engine light helicopter after securing only two customers for the type.

The airframer is looking to end production after completing an order for eight aircraft for Thailand, Mark Ballew, Boeing’s director for vertical-lift program business development and strategy, told Aviation Week on the sidelines of the DefenceIQ International Military Helicopter conference here Feb. 26.

“We are probably going to cease production on the AH-6i,” Ballew said. “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.”

He suggested that rebuilding the supply chain for the aircraft would not only take time, but also make the aircraft more expensive to produce.

Boeing launched development of the AH-6i after offering an H-6 variant for a U.S. Army requirement for a scout helicopter to replace the OH-58D Kiowa.

Working with MD Helicopters, manufacturer of the commercial MD530 from which the AH-6i was derived, Boeing proposed the AH-6i as a lightweight attack helicopter, seeing a market for hundreds of aircraft, particularly in the Middle East. However, only one order from the region transpired, with Saudi Arabia’s National Guard launching the program with an order for 24 aircraft, the first of which made its inaugural flight in July 2014.

The order from Thailand was contracted in February 2022. Boeing also proposed the platform as a replacement for the MH-6 Little Birds flown by the U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command. The Army has instead decided to reengineer its existing fleet and plans to keep them in service for the foreseeable future following the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program.