Thailand's New Little Bird Takes To The Skies

The first of eight Boeing AH-6 Little Bird light attack helicopters being supplied to the Royal Thai Army has successfully completed its inaugural test flight.

As per a Boeing press statement last week, the first of the eight aircraft recently took to the air at the American firm's factory in Mesa, Arizona.

As part of the $103 million contract, awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defence in February 2022, Boeing will also be providing training to Royal Thai Army pilots both at the Mesa facility and at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground. The deal also includes spares, training devices, and support equipment.

The new helicopters are intended to replace the Royal Thai Army’s fleet of AH-1F Cobras. The AH-6s are light helicopter gunships; they are also being operated by Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

An uncrewed ULB version of the AH-6 has been developed, as well as a "mission-enhanced" variant which can carry bigger payloads. The ULB variant can be twinned with and operated remotely from AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

The AH-6s can be armed with either two 12.7mm or 7.62mm guns, plus Hydra rockets and Hellfire and Stinger missiles.

Christina Upah, vice president of Boeing's Attack Helicopter Programs and a senior Mesa site executive, commented: "With its superior performance and flexible, easily configurable mission equipment, the Little Bird packs enormous versatility into a small, combat-proven package."

She added: "We are proud to partner with the U.S. Army to provide Thailand with these critical defense capabilities, and we look forward to supporting training for the first Thai Little Bird pilots in the near future."

• You can read more details on the Boeing website