The US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter may have emerged as part of the “Big 5” in the 1980s, yet the massively upgraded Modernized variant is surging into the future with the US military and its foreign partners.
Specific upgrades to the famous 1980s-era attack platform include drivetrain upgrades to support an Improved Turbine Engine, advanced mission systems, forward operating small-drone “Air Launched Effects,” improved sensing and new generations of long-range precision munitions, as described in an interesting essay in The War Zone from 2024.
The Army intent for its “Modernized Apache” model, as its called, has been to fly the classic attack helicopter for decades into the future, a plan which only became more pressing with the service’s cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft several years ago. This FARA aircraft, originally part of the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift program, was intended to replace critical missions now performed by the Kiowa Warrior and Apache helicopters. Another critical element of the FVL program, the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, the FLRAA, was awarded to Bell helicopter in recent years, yet this platform is emerging as more of a UH-60 Black Hawk replacement.
The Apache however, does not appear to have an immediate replacement of any kind, yet the helicopter has been modernized to the point where it is almost an entirely different platform than it was when it emerged in the 1980s. This is why the Apache remains extremely significant and is, for example, being sold to Poland.
As a historic and battle tested attack platform, the Apache is known for its ability to deliver lethal suppressive fire with a 30mm chain gun, control drones from the cockpit and track or destroy tanks from an airborne “hover” position.
The Army and Boeing previously took these performance parameter forward with the “E” model as it integrates several key innovations intended to preserve previous progress built into the preceding “D” model, yet at a much lighter weight. Lighter weight for helicopter, likely accomplished through the use of new composite materials, greatly enhance speed and agility. Therefore, the “E” model is 20-knots faster than previous Apaches and can reach speeds of 164 knots.
Apaches with greater speed and agility are better positioned to provide cover fire and air support for maneuvering ground forces advancing to contact with an enemy or engaged in close quarter combat. The “E”-models also operate with a new generation of manned-unmanned teaming technology as they can operate a number of drones directly from the cockpit. Advanced US Army MUM-T, as its called, enables flight crews to control the flight path and sensor payload of nearby drones, something which massively expedites target acquisition and attack.
The concept with the E model is to capture the innovations woven into the “D”-model, yet a much lighter weight. The “D” model is heavier than the original “A” model as it carries the famous Longbow radar and a new generation of targeting and sensing. However the “D” model does not operate with the transmission-to-power ratio and hard landing capacity of the “A” model.
The AH-64E can destroy armor, personnel, and material targets in obscured battlefield conditions at ranges out to 8 kilometers, an Army statement said. The “E” model also keeps the millimeter wave fire control, radar frequency interferometer and targeting sensors engineered into the previous Apache version, an Army statement from several years ago said.
