Originally Posted by
Evalu8ter
2805662,
Because back in 2010 for the UK it was not available on the F; we could have fitted them but would have incurred the costs associated with installation and testing, then more funds to note the config change on the DA drawing set. All of which changes the spec, moves the configuration away from "off the shelf" and costs time/money - the argument for US Army F for the UK at the time was speed/cost. By the time you started changing weapon, comms. As for the Australians, as I hear, the much trumpeted 3x new -47Fs delivered very quickly from the US Army line are causing something of a headache. As they are "off the shelf" and were already largely complete when they switched customer, they don't have a rotor brake which is causing no little angst and cost to retrofit. Lack of rotor brake makes ship ops difficult. Caveat emptor.
That DSCA notification is from April 2009, so that predates your "UK 2010" timeframe.
There were two F model buys, for a total of ten aircraft. Off the shelf, and much neater than the European nightmares.