AH-64 Apache helicopter Experience a real ‘Ride or Die’ moment

What you need to know: The US Army plans to extend the life of its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters into the 2070s by making significant upgrades. Initially designed for Cold War scenarios, the Apache has proven versatile in conflicts from the Gulf War to Afghanistan.

-With the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), the role of the Apache has become more important and older models will now receive modernized systems. Working in conjunction with the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the upgraded Apache will enhance the Army’s capabilities.

-This decision highlights the Pentagon’s shift toward upgrading proven platforms rather than developing more expensive new systems.

The Army is changing its plans for the AH-64 Apache

The US Army’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters are probably the best helicopters in the world. And because of the changes the Pentagon has made in response to tighter budgets and the demands of the war in Ukraine, it appears the Apache will be updated enough that it can continue to serve the U.S. military well into the 2070s.

Essentially, the Army is creating its own version of the Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress, in that the Apache, like the B-52, will serve many decades longer than its designers originally intended.

It just shows that the Pentagon really can do more with less. In this case, of course, they are forced to do more with less, after throwing away large amounts of hard-earned tax dollars and coming up short. You see, like Thomas Newdick at The war zone, has reported that the “modernized Apache has been scaled back somewhat from what it once looked like.”

In fact, Boeing, the company responsible for the AH-64 Apache, expects these upgraded Apaches to work with the military’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA).

Fundamental changes will keep the Army with the Apache

Interestingly, the Army’s planned Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) would replace at least 91 older Delta variant AH-64 Apache helicopters. But that plan was scrapped earlier this year after the Pentagon canceled FARA. So now those 91 deltas need to be upgraded. Removing the FARA platform, as Newdick assessed in his recent piece, makes the Apache “an even more critical asset to the Army and refocuses efforts to keep it effective and relevant for another four decades or more.”

The Apache has proven itself time and time again since it was first deployed decades ago. Designed to combat a possible Red Army invasion of Europe during the heady days of the Cold War, it quickly demonstrated its effectiveness in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan in the US Global War on Terror (GWoT). Yet the original mission was to wage – and win – a great power war, especially over the bloody plains of Europe. With the war in Ukraine still raging and the Apache remaining such a popular war machine, the military and Boeing could get back into shape with the Apache attack helicopter.

Regardless of what the Pentagon plans to do in terms of creating newer helicopters, the moment they chose to cancel their much-discussed Comanche attack helicopter a decade ago, they forced themselves to remain loyal to the Apache. Now the military is getting smart. Instead of reinventing the wheel with a completely new system. They simply extend the existing platform by upgrading the systems in the Apache and merging it with newer platforms, such as the FLRAA, to increase its lethality.

Apache Helicopter: A very attractive platform

Now combine that with the perceived threat of the Europeans from Russia and the United States, which creates a crucial export in the defense weapons sector. The Apache is an amazing bird that will continue to serve this country – and those of America’s allies – for decades to come. It continues to instill fear and loathing in the hearts and minds of America’s adversaries and gives the military forces that deploy these systems significant advantages over America’s great power rivals, such as Russia and China.

The Pentagon should learn more from this experience and seek to extend the life cycles of many of its more expensive platforms rather than replacing them with even more expensive systems that take years to build and are likely to rarely live up to expectations.

About the author

Brandon J. Weicherta national security of national importance analystis a former congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who contributes to The Washington Times, the Asia Times and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available wherever books are sold. Weichert can be followed on Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image credits: Creative Commons.