Boeing’s Plan For Modernized AH-64 Apaches Serving Into The 2060s
Boeing is busily planning for future upgrades to the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. While the scope of what is tentatively known as the Modernized Apache has been scaled back somewhat compared to how it once looked, the company is considering the lessons of the war in Ukraine as it seeks to optimize the AH-64 so that it can continue to serve the U.S. Army into the 2060s. Long before that time, it will be operating alongside the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) tiltrotor, which will bring a whole new set of capabilities — and new challenges — for the Apache.
The War Zone spoke exclusively to T.J. Jamison, Boeing’s business development director for the Apache and for the AH-6 Little Bird. Jamison, a retired U.S. Army aviator, commanded an aviation squadron in Iraq and an aviation brigade in Afghanistan, with 72 Apaches under his command at one point in the latter theater.