Massively upgraded Modernized Apache variant is surging into the future with the US military and its foreign partners.
April 21, 2025
by Kris Osborn, Warrior President
(Washington DC) The US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter may have emerged as part of the “Big 5” in the 1980s, yet the massively upgraded Modernized variant is surging into the future with the US military and its foreign partners.
Specific upgrades to the famous 1980s-era attack platform include drivetrain upgrades to support an Improved Turbine Engine, advanced mission systems, forward operating small-drone “Air Launched Effects,” improved sensing and new generations of long-range precision munitions, as described in an interesting essay in The War Zone from 2024.
Modernized Apache
The Army intent for its “Modernized Apache” model, as its called, has been to fly the classic attack helicopter for decades into the future, a plan which only became more pressing with the service’s cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft several years ago. This FARA aircraft, originally part of the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift program, was intended to replace critical missions now performed by the Kiowa Warrior and Apache helicopters. Another critical element of the FVL program, the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, the FLRAA, was awarded to Bell helicopter in recent years, yet this platform is emerging as more of a UH-60 Black Hawk replacement.
https://warriormaven.com/uncategorized/upgraded-us-army-apache-attack-helicopter-surges-into-future-combat-foreign-sales#google_vignette
