US Army Aviation Unit in Europe receives new Apache Helicopters

US Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade received two new Apache attack helicopters at Weisbaden Army Airfield, Clay Kaserne, Germany on September 1. The Boeing Apache helicopter is an American twin turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a Tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It is one of the most advanced attack helicopters of the US Army.

The helicopter features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30mm M230 chain gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft forward fuselage and four hardpoints mounted on stub wing pylons for carrying armaments and stores like a mixture of AGM 114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. One of its revolutionary features is the helmet-mounted display, the Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS). In this, either the pilot or the gunner can mate the helicopter's 30mm automatic M230 chain gun to their helmet and make the gin track head movements and fire at will.

About the AH-64 E Apache helicopters received by the US Army aviation unit in Europe

The new Apache received by the US Army officially designated as AH64E Version 6 Apache Guardians are the first of an anticipated 24 the unit is scheduled to receive. The attack choppers arriving on the C17 Globemaster were unloaded. The two of the unit’s existing AH-64 Delta models took their place aboard the transport bound for a different US Army aviation combat brigade.

The AH-64 received by the US Army has undergone multiple enhancements to helicopter sensors, software, and weapons performance and is designed for interoperability within the multi-domain operational ecosystem. The AH64-E is a lethal, survivable, and agile system providing ground forces with more reach, manoeuvrability and performance. The helicopter is capable of destroying armour, personnel, and material targets in obscured battlefield conditions, the attack chopper comes equipped with air-to-ground hellfire missiles that are semi-guided laser or radar-guided, 2.75-inch hydra rockets, which are laser-guided point detonating and an M230/30MM chain machine gun which shoots 625 rounds per minute with a range of 4.2 km.

Before the arrival of these V6s, the 12th Cab sent a few pilots to the US Army Aviation Centre of Excellence, at Fort Novosel, Alabama, for initial training. Maintainers on the other hand are scheduled to be trained here in Germany. It will begin in October and has an estimated completion date of January 2024.

USAACE is scheduled to send their New Equipment Training team to train the pilots and maintainers over the next seven months. As the US Army continues to expand and build the futuristic army of 2030. It invests in next-generation technology and the Apache brings affordable Modular Open Systems Architecture capability to serve as a centrepiece in the Multi-domain operations battlefield for future wars to come.