U.S. Army AH-64E Apache Shows High Kill Rate in New Counter-Drone Live Fire Test
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The U.S. Army confirmed that its AH-64E Apache can provide credible counter-drone and mobile air defense protection after a high-tempo live fire event at MCAS New River. The strong results highlight how an in-service platform can help close near-term gaps as small drones reshape modern battlefields.
The AH-64E Apache delivered a convincing performance as a frontline counter-drone platform during Operation Flyswatter, a multi-scenario live fire event held at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina, according to information released through DVIDS. Army officials and South Carolina Army National Guard crews said the goal was to test whether the Version 6 Apache, using its existing weapons and mission systems, could reliably track and defeat small unmanned aircraft without major hardware changes. Across the event, Apache teams recorded 13 kills in 14 engagements, a success rate that participants described as a clear signal that the aircraft can shoulder a formal counter-UAS role for maneuver forces and forward bases.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The U.S. Army’s AH-64E Apache V6 demonstrates its emerging counter-drone role, using upgraded sensors, Link 16 networking, JAGM and Hellfire missiles, APKWS rockets, and the 30 mm chain gun to detect, track and destroy small and medium UAS during Operation Flyswatter at MCAS New River (Picture source: U.S. DoW).
Led by the Apache Project Management Office under Program Executive Office Aviation and supported by South Carolina Army National Guard crews, Operation Flyswatter was structured to answer a concrete force-design question: Can the in-service AH-64E Version 6, without major hardware modifications, provide a credible mobile counter-drone shield for brigade combat teams and forward airfields? Across multiple scenarios and drone profiles, Apache crews recorded 13 successful kills out of 14 engagements, an outcome that strongly argues for assigning formal counter-UAS roles to the fleet.
The trials deliberately pushed the V6 software, sensors, and weapons mix. Crews opened at standoff ranges with Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles cued by the LONGBOW Fire Control Radar, then shifted between Radio Frequency and Semi-Active Laser Hellfire variants as geometry, clutter, and jamming conditions evolved. At mid-ranges, Hydra-70 rockets fitted with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits proved cost-effective UAS killers, including a series in which three out of four drones were destroyed using buddy-lase tactics between cooperating Apaches. When tracks penetrated inside roughly 300 meters, 30 mm M789 high-explosive dual-purpose rounds from the M230 chain gun provided a last-ditch layer of protection.
Behind that performance sits the Version 6 architecture, which quietly transforms the Apache from a classic tank-hunter into a networked sensor-shooter. V6 combines an upgraded LONGBOW radar, improved electro-optical and infrared sensors, Link 16 datalink integration, and advanced manned-unmanned teaming via MUMT-X. This allows crews not only to prosecute their own targets but also to ingest, refine, and retransmit drone tracks across the wider joint force, effectively turning each helicopter into a flying node in an emerging kill web.
Networked targeting was at the heart of Flyswatter. With Link 16 active, Apaches received tracks from joint partners and pushed their own sensor data back into the picture, compressing the sensor-to-shooter timeline that is critical in drone defense. Ground radars, Marine, and Navy systems could flag a suspicious contact; within seconds, Apache crews were slewing sensors, confirming identity and committing weapons. As one senior standardization pilot involved in the test put it, “The aircraft is no longer just supporting the air-ground fight, it is helping to hold the airspace together for everyone on the ground.”
Program leaders and weapons tactics experts stressed that the data gathered at New River will not remain at the test range. Operation Flyswatter is expected to drive updates to the AH-64 Aircrew Training Manual and to formalize aerial counter-UAS as a Mission Essential Task for Apache battalions. That will translate into new gunnery tables centered on swarming drones, refined rules for when to favor JAGM, APKWS, or the 30 mm gun, and a tighter playbook for how Apache units integrate with ground-based short-range air defense batteries.
The Marine Corps presence at MCAS New River, including Weapons and Tactics Instructors from MAWTS-1, underscored that this is a joint problem and a joint solution. The tactics validated in Flyswatter fit directly into the Pentagon’s broader push toward integrated air and missile defense and future Joint All-Domain Command and Control concepts, where any sensor can feed any shooter in near real time.
With the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program and proliferation of low-cost UAS, Army aviation is under pressure to prove that legacy platforms can adapt to drone-saturated skies. Operation Flyswatter suggests that the AH-64E V6 already offers a flexible “fire brigade” for counter-UAS operations around maneuver brigades, expeditionary airfields, and high-value homeland installations. Looking ahead, future Version 6.5 or Version 7 upgrades, combined with Air Launched Effects teaming, are likely to deepen that role, turning the Apache into a key, enduring node in the U.S. Army’s evolving counter-drone and integrated air defense ecosystem.
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The U.S. Army confirmed that its AH-64E Apache can provide credible counter-drone and mobile air defense protection after a high-tempo live fire event at MCAS New River. The strong results highlight how an in-service platform can help close near-term gaps as small drones reshape modern battlefields.
The AH-64E Apache delivered a convincing performance as a frontline counter-drone platform during Operation Flyswatter, a multi-scenario live fire event held at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina, according to information released through DVIDS. Army officials and South Carolina Army National Guard crews said the goal was to test whether the Version 6 Apache, using its existing weapons and mission systems, could reliably track and defeat small unmanned aircraft without major hardware changes. Across the event, Apache teams recorded 13 kills in 14 engagements, a success rate that participants described as a clear signal that the aircraft can shoulder a formal counter-UAS role for maneuver forces and forward bases.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The U.S. Army’s AH-64E Apache V6 demonstrates its emerging counter-drone role, using upgraded sensors, Link 16 networking, JAGM and Hellfire missiles, APKWS rockets, and the 30 mm chain gun to detect, track and destroy small and medium UAS during Operation Flyswatter at MCAS New River (Picture source: U.S. DoW).
Led by the Apache Project Management Office under Program Executive Office Aviation and supported by South Carolina Army National Guard crews, Operation Flyswatter was structured to answer a concrete force-design question: Can the in-service AH-64E Version 6, without major hardware modifications, provide a credible mobile counter-drone shield for brigade combat teams and forward airfields? Across multiple scenarios and drone profiles, Apache crews recorded 13 successful kills out of 14 engagements, an outcome that strongly argues for assigning formal counter-UAS roles to the fleet.
The trials deliberately pushed the V6 software, sensors, and weapons mix. Crews opened at standoff ranges with Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles cued by the LONGBOW Fire Control Radar, then shifted between Radio Frequency and Semi-Active Laser Hellfire variants as geometry, clutter, and jamming conditions evolved. At mid-ranges, Hydra-70 rockets fitted with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits proved cost-effective UAS killers, including a series in which three out of four drones were destroyed using buddy-lase tactics between cooperating Apaches. When tracks penetrated inside roughly 300 meters, 30 mm M789 high-explosive dual-purpose rounds from the M230 chain gun provided a last-ditch layer of protection.
Behind that performance sits the Version 6 architecture, which quietly transforms the Apache from a classic tank-hunter into a networked sensor-shooter. V6 combines an upgraded LONGBOW radar, improved electro-optical and infrared sensors, Link 16 datalink integration, and advanced manned-unmanned teaming via MUMT-X. This allows crews not only to prosecute their own targets but also to ingest, refine, and retransmit drone tracks across the wider joint force, effectively turning each helicopter into a flying node in an emerging kill web.
Networked targeting was at the heart of Flyswatter. With Link 16 active, Apaches received tracks from joint partners and pushed their own sensor data back into the picture, compressing the sensor-to-shooter timeline that is critical in drone defense. Ground radars, Marine, and Navy systems could flag a suspicious contact; within seconds, Apache crews were slewing sensors, confirming identity and committing weapons. As one senior standardization pilot involved in the test put it, “The aircraft is no longer just supporting the air-ground fight, it is helping to hold the airspace together for everyone on the ground.”
Program leaders and weapons tactics experts stressed that the data gathered at New River will not remain at the test range. Operation Flyswatter is expected to drive updates to the AH-64 Aircrew Training Manual and to formalize aerial counter-UAS as a Mission Essential Task for Apache battalions. That will translate into new gunnery tables centered on swarming drones, refined rules for when to favor JAGM, APKWS, or the 30 mm gun, and a tighter playbook for how Apache units integrate with ground-based short-range air defense batteries.
The Marine Corps presence at MCAS New River, including Weapons and Tactics Instructors from MAWTS-1, underscored that this is a joint problem and a joint solution. The tactics validated in Flyswatter fit directly into the Pentagon’s broader push toward integrated air and missile defense and future Joint All-Domain Command and Control concepts, where any sensor can feed any shooter in near real time.
With the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program and proliferation of low-cost UAS, Army aviation is under pressure to prove that legacy platforms can adapt to drone-saturated skies. Operation Flyswatter suggests that the AH-64E V6 already offers a flexible “fire brigade” for counter-UAS operations around maneuver brigades, expeditionary airfields, and high-value homeland installations. Looking ahead, future Version 6.5 or Version 7 upgrades, combined with Air Launched Effects teaming, are likely to deepen that role, turning the Apache into a key, enduring node in the U.S. Army’s evolving counter-drone and integrated air defense ecosystem.
