Costly military change begins. First Apaches to arrive in Poland tomorrow

• In August 2024, the Ministry of National Defense ordered 96 AH-64E attack helicopters from the USA for approximately $10 billion.
• In anticipation of deliveries, which are to begin in 2028, the ministry has leased Apache helicopters in the older AH-64D version. The first units will reach Poland this week.
• Among the challenges associated with accepting such a large number of AH-64 helicopters is training an appropriate group of pilots.

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (PSL) announced that the first Apache helicopters for the Polish Army will be received at the base in Inowrocław this week . This concerns the AH-64D version, leased for training while the army awaits deliveries of the latest version, the AH-64E , purchased last year.

In the US Army , i.e. the US land forces, since 1969, subsequent types of helicopters have been named after tribes of indigenous peoples. Hence the AH-64 up to and including version D is known in the world as Apache . However, in the last decade, with the appearance of the AH-64E version, the name was changed to Guardian , i.e. from English guard. However, in publications about the helicopter, including those prepared by the Polish Ministry of National Defense , it can be seen that both names are used interchangeably.

According to information from WNP, the arrival of helicopters to Inowrocław is planned for Tuesday .

Nearly 100 helicopters for $10 billion

In August 2024, the Ministry of National Defense signed a contract with the United States government for 96 AH-64E attack helicopters . As reported by the Ministry of National Defense, the contract was valued at about $10 billion net (today it is about PLN 37 billion). Deliveries are to take place in 2028-32.

The agreement includes a logistics package, including helicopter maintenance equipment and technical support, as well as a training package, which in turn includes specialist training and devices for training pilots and ground personnel. The contract also included the delivery of spare parts and combat equipment.

Before the MoD signed the contract for the helicopters, it concluded offset agreements with three American entities in 2023 and 2024. The focus here was on acquiring technology and skills in the field of technical support and maintaining combat readiness of helicopters. This concerns such critical machine systems as the fire control radar, the airframe itself and engines - the latter is important because the same power units are used in several other types of helicopters that the military has acquired in recent years.

First, leasing used machines

Already at the stage of preparations for signing the AH-64E contract, the army informed that it wanted to sign a contract with the US for the lease of used Apaches in the older version, in order to train pilots before deliveries of the target machines began. In 2023, the army concluded a training agreement with the Americans, and the first Polish pilots and technicians completed the course before the army signed the AH-64E contract.

At the end of February 2025, the Ministry of National Defense signed a contract for the lease of eight used AH-64 helicopters in the D version , as well as contracts for securing the operation and training of personnel. The total value of the package is USD 300 million . It is the machines contracted in February that will fly to Inowrocław this week.

Aviation in the Land Forces

The AH-64 helicopters will go to the 1st Land Forces Aviation Brigade, which is currently backed by Mi-24 attack helicopters. The Polish Army had over 40 of these types of helicopters, with several lost in accidents. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, some of these helicopters were handed over to the authorities in Kiev (according to data published by the Chancellery of the President, there were 12 machines). The brigade is responsible for two units - the 56th Air Base in Inowrocław (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), where the first AH-64Ds will arrive, and the 49th Air Base in Pruszcz Gdański (Pomeranian Voivodeship).

The transition from Soviet Mi-24s to American AH-64s will undoubtedly be an epochal change for soldiers .

Weapons, but what kind?

The August 2024 agreement for AH-64 helicopters in the E version also includes the purchase of weapons . The Ministry of Defense did not provide details, but American documents give some idea. Along with the approval to acquire 96 helicopters, the American administration gave the green light to purchase, among others, 1,844 Hellfire missiles in the latest version, 460 JAGM missiles (both for combating ground targets), 508 anti-aircraft Stingers (for self-defense against enemy aircraft) and 7,650 small APKWS guided missiles.

These numbers are the upper limit of Polish purchases that the authorities in Washington have agreed to. At the same time, they estimated the maximum value of the contract at 12 billion dollars . The actual value of the contract is - let us recall - 10 billion. Therefore, it can be assumed that the final numbers of ordered combat means are close to the upper limit.

In addition, the Apaches may also be armed with Hellfire missiles ordered in a separate contract in May 2023, then also for AW149 multi-role helicopters. At that time, the maximum number of missiles was 800, and the upper value of the contract was $150 million. Since the Ministry of National Defense reported that it paid "around $150 million" for the missiles, the conclusions as to the number of Hellfires ordered are obvious.

Political Consensus and Money Controversy

The purchase of the AH-64 was a subject of cross-party agreement in Poland . When Mariusz Błaszczak was the head of the Ministry of National Defense, a request for proposals was sent to the US government, and the first of the offset agreements was signed. When Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz took over the management of the Ministry of Defense, a contract for deliveries and further offset agreements were concluded.

However, the purchase of attack helicopters has been and continues to be controversial. This is primarily due to the large number of machines being acquired, and consequently the high value of the contract . This is not only the purchase itself, valued at $10 billion, but also the costs associated with the operation or future modernization of the machines. Suffice it to say that the purchase of weapons and military equipment alone usually constitutes one third of all costs associated with the entire life cycle.

The purchase of almost 100 helicopters is also a personnel challenge for the armed forces . The crew of each machine is two pilots, so almost 200 are needed for each helicopter to have a crew, or in reality about 300, because the military usually assumes that the number of pilots should be 150 percent of the personnel needed to man all the machines at once.

To respond to this challenge, Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz announced in September 2024 that not only officers but also non-commissioned officers would be allowed to pilot helicopters. However, when asked about this at a press conference in the second half of May, he was unable to answer about the specific effects of this announcement.

In early June, the Ministry of National Defense closed the procedure for acquiring more Black Hawk multi-role helicopters in an export version. Instead, it announced that the priority now is training and combat helicopters , i.e. for training future pilots of combat helicopters, including the AH-64.

Recently, in mid-May, the Pentagon announced that as part of the cuts , it was accelerating the withdrawal of the remaining AH-64 D version helicopters from military units .

The Big Five of the American Military

The prototype Apache attack helicopter first took to the air in 1975. The first version of the aircraft entered service in 1986. In the 1980s, the AH-64 was a pillar of the US Army's so-called Big Five – weapons systems that changed the face of the US ground forces.

The group also included UH-60 Black Hawk multi-role helicopters (mainly transport), M1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and Patriot anti-aircraft systems. All of these types of weapons still constitute the backbone of the US Army today, and all of them have undergone deep modernization compared to their original versions.

As for the Apache, the AH-64D and AH-64E versions (initially known as the AH-64D Block III) are characterized by a fire control radar placed above the main rotor in a casing resembling a flattened cylinder. However, due to both the high price and operational requirements, it is installed only on some of the machines in both versions. It will be no different in Poland, where 37 radars have been ordered for 96 helicopters. In addition, the E version is distinguished by, among other things, reinforced engines and the ability to control unmanned aerial vehicles from the helicopter.

The Apache, regardless of the version, can be armed with guided and unguided missiles against ground targets, as well as anti-aircraft missiles for self-defense. The only fixed armament is a 30-millimeter automatic cannon placed under the front of the hull.

The Apache helicopter was designed by Hughes, but entered service in the US as a McDonnell Douglas product, and from the second half of the 1990s it was developed by Boeing. It is used by the armed forces of almost 20 countries around the world .