Apache Attack Helicopter Crash

A new AH-64E Apache attack helicopter carrying two people crashed Friday in a small town in northwestern Taiwan, the island's military said.

Both crew members survived and no one on the ground was injured, it said. An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash, which happened around 10 a.m.



Lt. Gen. Wang Hsing-wei, army deputy commander-in-chief, said all of the army's 18 AH-64E Apache helicopters will be grounded following the crash.

Six of the AH-64E Apache helicopters have been grounded since December last year after the United States notified Taiwan of a failure in the transmission system component.

The first batch of the helicopters arrived from the United States on Nov. 4. Praising the Apaches as "among the best in the world," President Ma Ying-jeou in December thanked Washington for agreeing in 2008 to Boeing's sale of 30 of them to Taiwan.

The helicopters are part of a US$2 billion deal Taiwan reached with the United States. The full order of 30 is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, according to the military.

Taiwan's military will be the first outside the United States to deploy the advanced multirole combat helicopters when they are slated to become operational this month.