Boeing has handed over the 50th and final remanufactured AH-64E Apache attack helicopter for the British Army, with the rotorcraft recently accepted at its Mesa production site in Arizona.
Procured via a £1.7 billion ($2.1 billion) Foreign Military Sales deal with the USA, the UK’s E-model aircraft combine a new-build fuselage and updated technology with parts harvested from its Army Air Corps’ D-model Apache AH1s; an originally 67-strong fleet.
“The modernised engines, optical and thermal sights, sensors and [Longbow] radar enable the aircraft to fly faster, to see and strike targets at greater ranges,” the UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation says.
Further updates include a modernised defensive aids suite and a Link 16 data link.
Armament options include carrying up to 16 Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire or AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles, or a maximum of 76 BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guided or Hydra-model unguided 70mm rockets. The aircraft also has a 30mm cannon installed beneath the nose.
The UK’s frontline Apache squadrons are operated from Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk, with training activities conducted at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, Hampshire.
“The AH-64E is a critical part of UK deterrence and forms an integral part of the British Army offer to the NATO Force Model and forward land forces,” says Colonel David Amlot, head of the British Army’s combat aviation programmes.
“Battle tested and modernised, it is a fully integrated weapon system designed to fight multi-domain operations in highly contested, complex battlespace in the harshest environments from the desert to the Arctic,” he adds.
The army declared initial operational capability with the GE Aerospace T700-701D-engined AH-64E in 2023. Training activities with the new model have already included deployments to Estonia, Finland and Sweden, during last year’s NATO exercises Swift Response and Steadfast Defender.
The recently delivered 50th aircraft will remain in the USA “for software testing to enable advanced teaming with uncrewed air systems before being delivered to the UK in 2026”, DE&S says.
Future operations involving crewed/uncrewed teaming will result in “reduced sensor-to-shooter time… [and] increased tactical agility, with more timely and relevant decision making”, DE&S notes.
Boeing Defence UK holds a 20-year contract to deliver training and support services for the AH-64E fleet.
