Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the Ministry of Defence of Poland Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz signed a contract for the delivery of 96 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Polish Army. 

The signing of a contract for the delivery of Apache helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces took place on Tuesday at the 56th Air Base in Inowrocław, where the 1st Airborne Brigade of the Land Forces is stationed. It is to this unit that the first helicopters are to be delivered, ultimately replacing the obsolete post-Soviet Mi-24s.

„Today, we are taking a milestone in the transformation and equipping the military with state-of-the-art AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the most modern version,” – Kosiniak-Kamysz said. The cost of the purchase of 96 helicopters is around $10bn, he added.

The purchase of 96 Guardian version AH-64E Apache attack helicopters was first announced in 2022 by the previous head of the Ministry of Defence, Mariusz Blaszczak. Last week, offset agreements were signed with Boeing and General Electric, providing the servicing and overhaul of certain parts of the helicopters at Polish facilities.

The AH-64E Apache, manufactured by Boeing, are the primary attack helicopters used since the 1980s by the US Army; they have been continuously upgraded since their deployment. Their mission is primarily to support troops on the ground – such as armoured forces – by destroying enemy ground targets with a wide range of weapons, including the M230 automatic cannon and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.

Source: PAP

Photo: X/@visegrad24

Tomasz Modrzejewski