Apache Block III

Largest FMS contract for 96x Ah-64E for Poland awarded:

Boeing [NYSE: BA] will produce AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for international customers, including 96 for the Polish Armed Forces, under a Foreign Military Sales contract awarded by the U.S. Army valued at nearly $4.7 billion. Poland's order represents the largest number of Apache aircraft ordered outside of the United States in the program's history.

Boeing will produce 96 AH-64E Apache helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces under a Foreign Military Sales contract awarded by the U.S. Army (Boeing image).

With deliveries expected to begin in 2028, the Polish Ministry of National Defence (MND) is already training pilots and maintainers on the attack helicopter. The MND currently leases eight aircraft from the U.S. Army.
Click to expand...

https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2025-11-26-Boeing-to-Build-96-AH-64E-Apache-Helicopters-for-Poland
 
Last edited:
Boeing Helicopter is being saved for another couple of years by Germany and Poland.

Also of note the U.S. Army is touting the Apache as the fastest air defense system in its inventory, having demonstrated an ability to target and kill UAS at low altitude.
 
yasotay said:
Boeing Helicopter is being saved for another couple of years by Germany and Poland.

Also of note the U.S. Army is touting the Apache as the fastest air defense system in its inventory, having demonstrated an ability to target and kill UAS at low altitude.
Click to expand...
But isnt the Ch-47 faster than the AH-64 ..ibring back the ACH-47 :p
 
Apache confirms 30mm proximity fused shells for CUAS mission:

“The XM1225’s proximity fuze has the potential to increase soft-skinned ground and aerial target vulnerability, providing the Attack [Division] community an additional capability so long as those targets are susceptible to detection, classification, and tracking,” Maj. Vincent Franchino, test pilot and Attack Division chief at Redstone Test Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a statement.

The APEX technology was developed in-house by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Armaments Center, with support from Picatinny Arsenal and Northrop Grumman.
Click to expand...

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...n-air-to-air-combat-with-30mm-proximity-ammo/
 
yasotay said:
Also of note the U.S. Army is touting the Apache as the fastest air defense system in its inventory, having demonstrated an ability to target and kill UAS at low altitude.
Click to expand...
It is the fastest utility platform period.
I wouldn't be surprised if existing munitions start being rapidly integrated onto it. From C-UAS stuff to VSHORAD and even long range PGMs like a GMLRS, or special payloads.

With the concept being a rapid reinforcement capability to a wide range of ground assets.

Though there is a case that this niche could be fulfilled by something like the OA-1K Skyraider.
 
About time! I was beginning to think the U.S. Army was going to wait for photon torpedoes.
I suspect the "Red Wolf" cruise missiles recently developed by the USMC is being considered as well.
 
It will be interesting to see where they will have the Apache AESA radar, also I wonder how they will sort the Apache's aerodynamics too without redesigning the helicopter.
 
FighterJock said:
It will be interesting to see where they will have the Apache AESA radar, also I wonder how they will sort the Apache's aerodynamics too without redesigning the helicopter.
Click to expand...

By mounting the radar on the fuselage and eliminating the Longbow mast, which is very draggy.
 
Boeing is looking at potentially mounting an AESA on the fuselage of the helicopter, negating the need for the rotor-mast-mounted Longbow. […] Fitting the AESA radar to the fuselage and removing the Longbow would also improve aerodynamics, company officials said.
Click to expand...
It seems that they’re just talking about the inherent improvement of losing the drag from the mast mount.
 
I had thought that the whole point of the Longbow radar being mast mounted in the first place what that the Apache could hide behind trees then pop up and scan the area for targets then drop down behind cover and then pop up and attack the targets, I do wonder what new attack techniques will be made by the crews when they eventually field the new radar.
 
FighterJock said:
I had thought that the whole point of the Longbow radar being mast mounted in the first place what that the Apache could hide behind trees then pop up and scan the area for targets then drop down behind cover and then pop up and attack the targets, I do wonder what new attack techniques will be made by the crews when they eventually field the new radar.
Click to expand...

The article actually addresses this. Switching to AESA extends the radar's range, potentially taking the helicopter out of range of SHORADS, so they don't need terrain masking for protection.
 
For completeness, the AVW article also hints that Boeing could be making room to the use mast location currently occupied by the Longbow MMW radar for a UAS comms system.

When you put everything together: ITEP, higher power generation, fuselage mounted AESA, mast mounted UAS comms system, APEX 30mm rounds, APKWS, longer ranged stand off weapons, DEW - feels like Boeing are taking some lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East to crystallize another F-15EX -like glow-up for the Apache.
 
While I doubt it ever materializing like this, the AH-64 could have a redesigned nose similar to something like the Ka-52. After all it was proposed for the Sea Apache. Highly unlikely a Helicopter this old would receive a major overhaul like this. Whatever will replace them will probably feature a decent radar in the nose though.

proposed-navalized-ah-64-variant-sea-apache-aka-grey-thunder-v0-wxge41h03xw31.jpg
 
Last edited:
Training_Dummy said:
For completeness, the AVW article also hints that Boeing could be making room to the use mast location currently occupied by the Longbow MMW radar for a UAS comms system.
Click to expand...

MUMT-X is a known and deployed masthead system already, so that's not really a new idea.
 
TomS said:
MUMT-X is a known and deployed masthead system already, so that's not really a new idea.
Click to expand...

As you probably know but for those who don’t and read your post, it’s either / or Longbow or MUMT-X on a Guardian, at least as far as I know…. but maybe a Chinook would laugh at this Sophie’s Choice.

So fuselage mounted (CLAS?) AESA arrays would obviate this one or the other situation.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom