That article was released from NAVAIR. If it flies for the USN or the CORPS they own it from the drawing board to when it gets melted down basically. You'll see the releasing source to the right of the header for any DefPro articles. DefPro (and others I use.) are just "news" agencies. Here are three of my refs from my PG 3 Patch recommendations list (On paper at this point.) addressing the AH-1Z as being discussed. I'm holding the rest of the refs until the list is ready to go, but these answer the current issue. I will re-post the last off the APC thread fro continuity.
1.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/18440/ See para.2 note the key word is {B]"recommended"[/b]. And the official release.
http://www.navair.navy.mil/press_rel...413&site_id=23
2.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/20163/ See para.1
28 Nov. approved for full rate production.
3.
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/supcobra/ great overview of the AH-1W and AH-1Z programs. See para.6 which should answer the question.
See post #7 this thread.
Two factors are causing the date issues which is another reason I use DefPro and a couple of others, they don't update all their info Global Security on this topic is a perfect example of an excellent hard source that does this sometimes.
The biggest reason however was the redirection to give priority to the final opeval testing and production of the UH-1Y to meet the demands of the CORPS to replace it's aging HUEY's with a more reliable lift platform.
Will be offline for a couple of days, it's a time of reflection over "things lost" for the immediate family.
Have a great weekend and thank you for patience.
Regards,
Pat