April 29, 2006:
The U.S. Army is getting many AH-64 Apache gunships back from Iraq that are pretty beaten up. Rather than have the regular maintenance crews path them up, the army is having some of the most banged around helicopters go in for a refurbishment by a civilian firm. Six AH-64 will get the treatment for $7.4 million each. This will include repairing sand damage to the engines, bullet damage and assorted dings, cracks and bent metal.