Poland is purchasing the AH-64E Apache, considered one of the best American attack helicopters in the world. Today in Inowrocław, a contract worth an impressive PLN 40 billion with the American government will be signed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
This purchase is very important because AH-64E Apache is considered one of the best attack helicopters in the world and are intended to increase our military potential.
Poland will buy 96 of these machines from America. Each one is almost 18 meters long, weighs a maximum of 9.5 tons and can reach a speed of almost 300 km/h. Inside there is space for two soldiers who sit in an armored cabin.
The Apaches are to replace the obsolete post-Soviet Mi-24 helicopters that lack precision ammunition. The machines will mainly go to the 56th Air Base in Inowrocław, where the 1st Aviation Brigade of the Ground Forces is stationed.
It is important to emphasize that the first Polish pilots have already completed training on American helicopters. Before the first copies arrive, our army will receive several units rented from the Americans.
The agreement that Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz will sign this afternoon, foresees not only the purchase of helicopters, but also a logistics and training package.
Purchase of 96 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters announced in 2022 by the then Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak. In August 2023, the US State Department and then Congress gave their consent to the sale of these machines to Poland; then the first offset agreements were signed with Lockheed Martin, concerning, among others, maintenance of helicopter radars and missile guidance systems.
On Monday, August 5th The Ministry of National Defense signed two offset agreements with Boeing and General Electric. The contract, worth a total of almost $1 billion, aims to provide our country with the opportunity to provide assistance to American attack helicopters in Poland.
The Boeing-produced AH-64E Apaches are the basic attack helicopters used by the U.S. Army since the 1980s. Their job is first and foremost military support on the groundfor example, armored forces, destroying enemy ground targets using a wide range of weapons, including the M230 autocannon and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
The AH-64 should be seen as part of the system, important but not the only one. Probably after the Polish side bought the Abrams tanks, the Americans convinced them to use the combination of Abrams and Apache. – Mariusz Cielma, editor-in-chief of “Nowa Technika Wojskowa”, told PAP.
The Apache has been an integral part of the U.S. Army for decades. It’s hard to say that there is competition today, a bit like the F-35 – he added. He highlighted that the production of thousands of units translates into the development of the structure and the plans of users, such as the US Army, which intends to use Apache helicopters also around 2060.
There is no more advanced helicopter. The AH-64 uses optoelectronics and – in worse weather conditions – radar. It has sensors to detect the enemy; systems that provide high situational awareness and therefore greater survivability on the battlefield. – said the editor-in-chief of NTW. He noted that other attack helicopters use only optoelectronics, “and it is difficult to take on operations in our part of the continent only in good weather.”
