U.S. Army Orders $4.7 Billion in AH-64E Apache Helicopters for Counter-Drone Missions
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The U.S. Army has issued a $4.7 billion contract to Boeing for new-build Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, Longbow crew trainers, and support items funded through Foreign Military Sales for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait. The award keeps the Mesa, Arizona, production line active into the next decade and reinforces the Army’s plan to rely on the AH-64E as its long-term attack aviation backbone.
The U.S. Department of War announced on November 25, 2025, that the Army awarded Boeing a $4.685 billion firm fixed price contract for new build Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, Longbow crew trainers, and associated components, spares, and accessories. Work will be carried out in Mesa, Arizona, with completion expected by May 30, 2032, and the award is funded through Foreign Military Sales for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait under contract W58RGZ-26-C-0002.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The AH-64E Apache Guardian pairs more powerful engines and composite rotors with advanced sensors, Link 16 networking, and Hellfire/JAGM missiles, delivering high-performance, precision strike, and emerging counter-drone capability (Picture source: U.S. DoW).
The package is part of a wider Apache refresh, with more than 2.29 billion dollars already obligated for the three partner nations at signature, while the Pentagon’s daily contract list confirms the deal as the larger of two Boeing awards announced the same day, totalling more than 7 billion dollars with a parallel Air Force aircraft order. For Army aviation and for Boeing’s Mesa line, this is not a marginal top-up but a strategic decision to sustain Apache production deep into the 2030s.
The notice does not specify quantities, but recent Foreign Military Sales cases bracket the likely range. Poland’s approved package for 96 AH-64E helicopters and a full ecosystem of sensors, weapons, and infrastructure is valued at around 10 to 12 billion dollars. South Korea’s cleared but now politically contested plan for up to 36 AH-64Es carries a 3.5 billion dollar estimate. On that basis, a 4.685 billion dollar contract that also buys Longbow crew trainers points to roughly 35 to 45 new-build helicopters for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait combined, on top of earlier upgrade and remanufacture work already underway for Egyptian and Kuwaiti fleets. It follows a 2023 multi-year deal that funded up to 184 AH-64E aircraft and keeps the Apache line firmly in serial production.
What these customers are paying for is the AH-64E Guardian in its latest software and hardware baselines. The E model couples twin T700-GE-701D engines with new composite main rotor blades and an uprated transmission, giving better hot and high performance, climb, and payload compared with the AH-64D while retaining the familiar tandem cockpit and four-station stub wings. A modernised Arrowhead targeting and pilot night vision suite, advanced fire control computers, and an open mission system architecture enable rapid sensor and software insertions without redesigning the entire aircraft.
In the Version 6 configuration now fielded to U.S. units, the Apache becomes a genuine network node rather than a standalone gunship. Integration of the Small Tactical Terminal radio brings Link 16 connectivity alongside Soldier Radio Waveform, allowing the helicopter to share targeting data with ground forces, air defence units, and other aircraft in near real time. The extended rotor mast can host either the classic AN/APG-78 Longbow millimetre wave radar or a MUMT-X sensor and datalink array optimised for manned-unmanned teaming, extending the helicopter’s “see first, shoot first” envelope well beyond the horizon by using unmanned systems as forward scouts.
A nose-mounted 30 mm M230 chain gun provides close-range overwatch, while four pylons can carry up to sixteen AGM-114 Hellfire or AGM-179 JAGM missiles and pods of 70 mm rockets, increasingly fitted with APKWS guidance kits for precision at lower cost. Survivability is underpinned by radar warning receivers, missile warning sensors, infrared suppressors, and expendables, all tied into the defensive aids suite that reflects hard lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine.
The AH-64E is being written directly into the U.S. Army’s updated FM 3-04 capstone doctrine for aviation in multi-domain operations. The manual describes aviation brigades as key tools for penetrating and disrupting layered enemy defenses across land, air, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum, with attack battalions providing deep fires, close combat attack, and armed reconnaissance in support of corps and division schemes of maneuver. In practice, that means Apaches working as part of composite packages alongside MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned systems, artillery, integrated air and missile defense, and electronic warfare units, rather than operating as isolated hunter-killer teams.
The February 2024 Aviation Investment Rebalance, which cancelled the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program while preserving the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, made that philosophy explicit. Instead of betting on a clean-sheet scout platform, the Army chose to standardise around UH-60M, CH-47F, and AH-64E as enduring fleets and to pour resources into sensors, weapons, and unmanned teaming that keep those airframes relevant against drone-rich, surface-to-air missile-protected opponents. The new Apache contract is the concrete manifestation of that bet.
Some analysts argue that the Ukraine war and the spread of cheap loitering munitions spell the end of crewed attack helicopters, citing heavy Russian losses and articles that frame the FARA cancellation as proof that armed reconnaissance rotorcraft can no longer survive in high-end combat. Australian debate over its own Apache buy has featured similar concerns, with critics suggesting money should flow entirely to drones. Yet the battlefield evidence is more nuanced. Ukraine and Russia both continue to use helicopters for deep strike and, increasingly, for counter-drone roles, with Ukrainian commanders crediting rotary crews with a significant share of Shahed drone shoot-downs when conditions allow.
A recent U.S. Army exercise has underscored how far the AH-64E has evolved as a counter-drone platform, with Apache Guardian crews using their Longbow radar, electro-optical sensors, and MUMT-X unmanned teaming suite to detect, track, and engage multiple classes of small unmanned aircraft, then prosecuting targets with a mix of 30 mm cannon fire, guided 70 mm rockets, and precision missiles. The drills showed that, when networked with other sensors and cued to emerging threats, the AH-64E can rapidly reposition to threatened sectors, build a clear picture of the low-altitude airspace, and provide mobile, hard-kill protection against swarming drones in contested environments.
Globally, the contract aligns the Army with a broad club of Apache-E model operators. Boeing lists customers including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, with Poland and Australia now joining as major new adopters. The British Army is fielding its AH-64E as part of a deep reconnaissance strike construct, India has deployed Apaches into high altitude environments along the Line of Actual Control, and Australia explicitly plans to pair its 29 AH-64Es with armed drones as part of a networked strike ecosystem based at Townsville. For Egypt and Kuwait, the new production run complements ongoing remanufacture and sensor upgrade efforts that convert legacy D models to the E standard.
Industrial implications are equally significant. Boeing notes that more than 2,700 Apaches of all variants have been delivered, with Mesa sustaining thousands of jobs and a deep supply chain in Arizona and across the United States. Earlier multi-year awards already stretched the line into the early 2030s; this new 4.7 billion dollar package, paired with emerging training innovations such as Red 6’s augmented reality system for the Apache crewstation, suggests the Army is preparing to fly and fight the type well into the 2060s. For partners like Poland, offset deals covering maintenance and engine support are creating local industrial capacity around what will be Europe’s largest Apache fleet.
Rather than accepting a narrative that attack helicopters are obsolete, the U.S. Army is locking in the AH-64E as a networked, drone-hunting, multi-mission attack platform and inviting key allies to do the same. The new contract is a strategic decision that keeps the Apache at the center of Army offensive aviation, and a direct rebuttal to predictions that the helicopter age is coming to an end.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
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The U.S. Army has issued a $4.7 billion contract to Boeing for new-build Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, Longbow crew trainers, and support items funded through Foreign Military Sales for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait. The award keeps the Mesa, Arizona, production line active into the next decade and reinforces the Army’s plan to rely on the AH-64E as its long-term attack aviation backbone.
The U.S. Department of War announced on November 25, 2025, that the Army awarded Boeing a $4.685 billion firm fixed price contract for new build Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, Longbow crew trainers, and associated components, spares, and accessories. Work will be carried out in Mesa, Arizona, with completion expected by May 30, 2032, and the award is funded through Foreign Military Sales for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait under contract W58RGZ-26-C-0002.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The AH-64E Apache Guardian pairs more powerful engines and composite rotors with advanced sensors, Link 16 networking, and Hellfire/JAGM missiles, delivering high-performance, precision strike, and emerging counter-drone capability (Picture source: U.S. DoW).
The package is part of a wider Apache refresh, with more than 2.29 billion dollars already obligated for the three partner nations at signature, while the Pentagon’s daily contract list confirms the deal as the larger of two Boeing awards announced the same day, totalling more than 7 billion dollars with a parallel Air Force aircraft order. For Army aviation and for Boeing’s Mesa line, this is not a marginal top-up but a strategic decision to sustain Apache production deep into the 2030s.
The notice does not specify quantities, but recent Foreign Military Sales cases bracket the likely range. Poland’s approved package for 96 AH-64E helicopters and a full ecosystem of sensors, weapons, and infrastructure is valued at around 10 to 12 billion dollars. South Korea’s cleared but now politically contested plan for up to 36 AH-64Es carries a 3.5 billion dollar estimate. On that basis, a 4.685 billion dollar contract that also buys Longbow crew trainers points to roughly 35 to 45 new-build helicopters for Poland, Egypt, and Kuwait combined, on top of earlier upgrade and remanufacture work already underway for Egyptian and Kuwaiti fleets. It follows a 2023 multi-year deal that funded up to 184 AH-64E aircraft and keeps the Apache line firmly in serial production.
What these customers are paying for is the AH-64E Guardian in its latest software and hardware baselines. The E model couples twin T700-GE-701D engines with new composite main rotor blades and an uprated transmission, giving better hot and high performance, climb, and payload compared with the AH-64D while retaining the familiar tandem cockpit and four-station stub wings. A modernised Arrowhead targeting and pilot night vision suite, advanced fire control computers, and an open mission system architecture enable rapid sensor and software insertions without redesigning the entire aircraft.
In the Version 6 configuration now fielded to U.S. units, the Apache becomes a genuine network node rather than a standalone gunship. Integration of the Small Tactical Terminal radio brings Link 16 connectivity alongside Soldier Radio Waveform, allowing the helicopter to share targeting data with ground forces, air defence units, and other aircraft in near real time. The extended rotor mast can host either the classic AN/APG-78 Longbow millimetre wave radar or a MUMT-X sensor and datalink array optimised for manned-unmanned teaming, extending the helicopter’s “see first, shoot first” envelope well beyond the horizon by using unmanned systems as forward scouts.
A nose-mounted 30 mm M230 chain gun provides close-range overwatch, while four pylons can carry up to sixteen AGM-114 Hellfire or AGM-179 JAGM missiles and pods of 70 mm rockets, increasingly fitted with APKWS guidance kits for precision at lower cost. Survivability is underpinned by radar warning receivers, missile warning sensors, infrared suppressors, and expendables, all tied into the defensive aids suite that reflects hard lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine.
The AH-64E is being written directly into the U.S. Army’s updated FM 3-04 capstone doctrine for aviation in multi-domain operations. The manual describes aviation brigades as key tools for penetrating and disrupting layered enemy defenses across land, air, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum, with attack battalions providing deep fires, close combat attack, and armed reconnaissance in support of corps and division schemes of maneuver. In practice, that means Apaches working as part of composite packages alongside MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned systems, artillery, integrated air and missile defense, and electronic warfare units, rather than operating as isolated hunter-killer teams.
The February 2024 Aviation Investment Rebalance, which cancelled the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program while preserving the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, made that philosophy explicit. Instead of betting on a clean-sheet scout platform, the Army chose to standardise around UH-60M, CH-47F, and AH-64E as enduring fleets and to pour resources into sensors, weapons, and unmanned teaming that keep those airframes relevant against drone-rich, surface-to-air missile-protected opponents. The new Apache contract is the concrete manifestation of that bet.
Some analysts argue that the Ukraine war and the spread of cheap loitering munitions spell the end of crewed attack helicopters, citing heavy Russian losses and articles that frame the FARA cancellation as proof that armed reconnaissance rotorcraft can no longer survive in high-end combat. Australian debate over its own Apache buy has featured similar concerns, with critics suggesting money should flow entirely to drones. Yet the battlefield evidence is more nuanced. Ukraine and Russia both continue to use helicopters for deep strike and, increasingly, for counter-drone roles, with Ukrainian commanders crediting rotary crews with a significant share of Shahed drone shoot-downs when conditions allow.
A recent U.S. Army exercise has underscored how far the AH-64E has evolved as a counter-drone platform, with Apache Guardian crews using their Longbow radar, electro-optical sensors, and MUMT-X unmanned teaming suite to detect, track, and engage multiple classes of small unmanned aircraft, then prosecuting targets with a mix of 30 mm cannon fire, guided 70 mm rockets, and precision missiles. The drills showed that, when networked with other sensors and cued to emerging threats, the AH-64E can rapidly reposition to threatened sectors, build a clear picture of the low-altitude airspace, and provide mobile, hard-kill protection against swarming drones in contested environments.
Globally, the contract aligns the Army with a broad club of Apache-E model operators. Boeing lists customers including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, with Poland and Australia now joining as major new adopters. The British Army is fielding its AH-64E as part of a deep reconnaissance strike construct, India has deployed Apaches into high altitude environments along the Line of Actual Control, and Australia explicitly plans to pair its 29 AH-64Es with armed drones as part of a networked strike ecosystem based at Townsville. For Egypt and Kuwait, the new production run complements ongoing remanufacture and sensor upgrade efforts that convert legacy D models to the E standard.
Industrial implications are equally significant. Boeing notes that more than 2,700 Apaches of all variants have been delivered, with Mesa sustaining thousands of jobs and a deep supply chain in Arizona and across the United States. Earlier multi-year awards already stretched the line into the early 2030s; this new 4.7 billion dollar package, paired with emerging training innovations such as Red 6’s augmented reality system for the Apache crewstation, suggests the Army is preparing to fly and fight the type well into the 2060s. For partners like Poland, offset deals covering maintenance and engine support are creating local industrial capacity around what will be Europe’s largest Apache fleet.
Rather than accepting a narrative that attack helicopters are obsolete, the U.S. Army is locking in the AH-64E as a networked, drone-hunting, multi-mission attack platform and inviting key allies to do the same. The new contract is a strategic decision that keeps the Apache at the center of Army offensive aviation, and a direct rebuttal to predictions that the helicopter age is coming to an end.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
