The Panther serves with the naval forces of France, Ireland, Israel, and Abu Dhabi. However, Bell is seen as the front runner for the air force SAR contract. Singapore is the first Asian customer to buy Boeing Apache multimission helicopters. This key victory for the Apache in the Pacific Rim doesn't bode well for the competition, notably Eurocopter's Tiger. The Franco-German attack helicopter still lacks a foreign customer beyond Germany and France.
Sources say Singapore is now looking for naval helicopters.
This attack helicopter, dubbed the AHX, will equip two army battalions. Deliveries to replace Hueys with 138 UH-60P Black Hawks were completed earlier this year. Negotiations for more Black Hawks are now underway. The airframe manufacturer with the strongest ties to South Korea is GKN Westland. The South Korean Navy already flies 13 Super Lynx and 12 Mk 99 models, and may buy another 60 Lynx by 2000.