Apache's future: Evolving from cold war relic to modern marvel
The AH-64 Apache helicopter will soon celebrate the milestone of its 50th flight anniversary. Despite its age, it is still being developed, and the Pentagon plans foresee it remaining in service at least until 2060. What future awaits the Apache?
Do attack helicopters still make sense? The course of the war in Ukraine raises questions about the future of this class of equipment, yet different countries draw extremely different conclusions from the same data.
South Korea, citing the fighting in Ukraine, has decided to review its AH-64 helicopter purchase programme. After delivering the first tranche of 36 units, further deliveries are now in question.
Japan is acting more radically. Although it currently operates a substantial fleet of attack helicopters, it intends to abandon them completely in favour of various types of drones.
China presented an entirely different assessment of the situation. China, among other things, bases its approach on the fighting in Ukraine, deeming the attack helicopter indispensable and sparing no expense in developing its own designs. Israel, which operates 48 Apache helicopters in AH-64A and AH-64D versions, draws similar conclusions. This country plans to double its fleet of these machines nearly.
From Cold War to COIN operations
The Apache was designed according to Cold War assumptions as part of a powerful war machine participating in a full-scale conflict with a technologically advanced opponent. The concept of AirLand Battle, which NATO was to conduct with the Warsaw Pact, assumed that the Apache would operate in an ecosystem created by the "big five." This included the M1 Abrams tank, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, Patriot anti-aircraft system, Black Hawk transport helicopter, and attack helicopter.
Meanwhile, several decades of service for this machine include battles conducted against a clearly weaker opponent, such as in Panama or during Operation Desert Storm or COIN (counterinsurgency) operations. The Russian attack on Ukraine and growing pressure from China mean that, as noted by Thomas Newdick from The War Zone, in the case of the Apache, the pendulum swings in the other direction.
In planning the development of its helicopter, Boeing returns to its roots—aiming for the Apache to once again dominate in extremely hostile, weapon-saturated enemy environments, such as the battlefield in Europe, for example.
Advanced Apache, or AH-64 after modernisation
The first modern concept of Apache modernisation was presented in 2022. Boeing then proposed upgrades to the powerplant, the use of modular construction, advanced avionics that reduce crew information overload, modernisation of sensors and data exchange links, reducing operating costs, and the use of new long-range weapons and airborne-launched drones ALE (Air-Launched Effect).
Updated assumptions were presented in October 2024, and earlier ideas were refined and developed. The Apache is in for a true revolution, including a new fuselage with an extended lifespan, which will allow for reduced operational costs.
Improved aerodynamics and the new powerplant will allow the helicopter to achieve even greater speeds without altering the rotor design. Previous concepts included, among others, using an articulated tail rotor that would act as a pusher propeller, as in the S-97 Raider helicopter (a similar idea was presented by Boeing for the AH-64F variant as early as 2014).
The increase in speed is significant, among other things, because of the necessity to cooperate with the new Bell V-280 Valor helicopters resulting from the FLRAA programme. These helicopters will replace the currently operated Black Hawks in the future. The new Apache is also expected to offer a greater range, which is particularly important during operations in the Pacific.
The modernised AH-64 is also intended to carry more weapons. This will be made possible by extended wings, under which there will be space for six weapon stations rather than the current four.
Apache without FARA helicopter support
The helicopter's avionics will undergo radical changes, which—following the solutions applied in the F-35—will limit the amount of information reaching the crew, presenting only the most relevant at a given moment. A new helmet with a display will help, allowing for the use of augmented reality (computer-generated images and data overlaid on the real image).
Boeing is also considering abandoning the characteristic radar dome, placed above the main rotor axis since version D of the Apache. The radar will be moved to the machine's fuselage, and drones will take over the role of sensors allowing safe observation.
The development of reconnaissance capabilities will be critically important for the Apache due to the cancellation of the FARA programme, which was supposed to support attack helicopters with new and lighter attack reconnaissance machines.
A long-lived design
Will the proposed changes be implemented, and when? At the current stage, Boeing does not specify whether the new Apache will be created as an upgrade of the existing Echo variant (AH-64E Guardian, currently in version 6.5) or as a new variant of the machine, unofficially referred to as "Future Apache" or "Advanced Apache."
The manufacturer's plans assume the beginning of modernisation between 2032 and 2035, and according to Pentagon assumptions, the modernised helicopter would serve until 2060, when the Apache will be a nearly 90-year-old design.
