The first modernized AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter for the Dutch air force was unveiled yesterday at the Boeing plant in Mesa, Arizona. In total, the procedure referred to by Boeing as remanufacture, i.e. modification of an already existing airframe deep enough to be considered re-production, will cover twenty-eight Dutch machines.
The modernization of the main character of this article from the D / Longbow standard to the E / Guardian standard took exactly five months. All works are to be completed in 2025. All Dutch helicopters will represent the latest version of the V6, unveiled four years ago, in which, among other things, the avionics package has been equipped with systems that increase situational awareness or enable cooperation with UAVs.
New and improved! We’ve delivered @ Kon_Luchtmacht’s first upgraded AH-64E v6 Apache.
This # AH64 is the first of 28 E-model Apaches for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Check out its first flight. pic.twitter.com/X0Fm0bZ4y1
– Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) October 25, 2022
New in the E version – compared to the D version – include the more powerful T700-GE-701D engines with revised gears and composite rotor blades for increased speed and lifting capacity. A particularly interesting feature of the AH-64E is the adaptation of the Longbow radar to target detection in the marine environment. In addition, a reinforced chassis, and the JTIDS battlefield information management system was implemented in the electronic equipment package. Originally, the Guardian was supposed to wear the mundane AH-64D Block 3 designation, but – like the Super Hornet – Boeing decided to give the machine a new name to emphasize the increase in combat capability.
– It is an honor to receive the first re-produced Apache Echo – said Vice Admiral Arie Jan de Waard, head of the organization of military equipment (Defensie Materieel Organisatie). – This modernized attack helicopter is a significant step forward giving the Royal Netherlands Air Force greater combat capacity and situational awareness. This first delivery is an important step in the modernization of our entire Apache fleet.
De eerste gemoderniseerde Nederlandse Apache AH64E V6 kwam vandaag uit de fabriek van @BoeingDefense 🇺🇸 De vernieuwde Apache is een stuk moderner en zijn weer operationeel relevant en inzetbaar tot 2050. De hele vloot van de @Kon_Luchtmacht ondisering 2025 ondisering d25 modern ondiseringa. com / MvlyRBBTOp
– Defensie Materieel Organisatie (@Defensie_DMO) October 25, 2022
The modernized helicopter will now be delivered to the Dutch training unit stationed in Fort Hood, Texas – 302nd Squadron. It is not yet known when he will return to the home 301st Squadron at Gilze-Rijen.
The Netherlands ordered thirty AH-64Ds in 1995. Deliveries to Koninklijke Luchtmacht were in the period 1998–2002; temporarily, the Americans leased six AH-64As to the Dutch to train their personnel. At the beginning of the new millennium, the AH-64D Block 1 to Block 2 standard was modernized. During it, the Apaches were equipped with, among others, the AN / ASQ-170 – AN / AAR-11 M-TADS / PNVS sighting and night vision system present at AH- 64E. On the way, two copies were lost in accidents.
The helicopters have had operational service in Djibouti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali. The agreement to “re-produce” the Dutch Apaches was signed in 2019 as part of the Foreign Military Sales program. The modernized helicopters are to remain in service until 2050. Due to the scope of the changes (although many of the essential components of the airframe remain unchanged, all internal installations are new), the Dutch Guardians receive new side numbers – from Q-31 upwards.
Boeing began delivering Guardians to the U.S. armed forces in 2011. Currently, 665 AH-64E are in service worldwide, which is more than half of the entire global Apache fleet.
See also: $ 27 billion in five years to defend the Pacific against China
Bernardo Fernandez Copado, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic