The Army Needs A Long-Term Plan For Keeping Its Apache Helicopters Lethal And Survivable (From Forbes)

The AH-64 Apache helicopter is the Army’s premier airborne tank killer, and thus plays a pivotal role in future land warfare plans. The service is currently remanufacturing 812 Apaches to an “E” variant, a process it has undertaken every dozen years or so ever since the helicopter first debuted in the 1980s. However, the last AH-64E will be funded in 2025, and the Army has no comprehensive or actionable plan beyond then for further modernization. That’s a problem, because the service is expecting for Apache to remain in the active force through 2050. The Army needs a plan to keep Apache relevant, to keep its Arizona workforce employed, and to convince Congress no intervention is necessary to assure the attack fleet is moving in the right direction. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.