The US State Department has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Poland Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency announced on 21 August 2023.
The sale, which is estimated to be worth USD 12 Bn (EUR 11.1 Bn), has been forwarded to Congress for approval.
The package requested by Poland covers 96 AH-64Es plus 18 spare T700-GE 701D powerplants, 97 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/AN/AAR-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors (M-TADS/PNVS) (96 installed, 1 spare); 37 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radar (FCR) Mast Mounted Assemblies (MMA) (36 installed, 1 spare); 37 Longbow Fire Control Radar (FCR) radar electronic units (36 installed, 1 spare); 96 AN/APR-48B Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers; 102 AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems (96 installed, 6 spares); and 204 AN/ARC-231A VHF/UHF radios (192 installed, 12 spares).
Ordnance ordered as part of the package includes 1,844 AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles; 96 M36E8 Hellfire Captive Air Training Missiles; 460 AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles; 508 Stinger 92K Block I missiles; and 7,650 WGU-59/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II guidance sections.
The package additionally includes various additional avionics, such as manned-unmanned teaming systems, as well as spares and training, technical, logistics and programme support.
The purchase of the 96 AH-64Es fulfils Poland Kruk programme to procure a modern attack helicopter fleet. The Polish government announced that the AH-64E had been selected for this programme on 8 September 2022.
Boeing has established significant co-operative partnerships across Polish government and industry to deliver the Kruk programme, most notably with the Polish Armaments Group.
Peter Felstead
