Boeing AH-64 Apache

The Boeing (formerly Hughes, then McDonnell Douglas) AH-64 Apache entered US Army service in 1986 as the most capable dedicated attack helicopter ever built. Developed following the cancellation of the AH-56 Cheyenne, the Apache was designed around a specific threat: massed Soviet armour advancing through the Fulda Gap into West Germany. The aircraft was optimised to survive in that environment — armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles, protected against 23mm cannon fire, and capable of night operations through the PNVS and TADS sensor systems mounted on the nose.

The Apache’s 30mm M230 chain gun, mounted on an articulated chin turret, can fire 625 rounds per minute. In the primary anti-armour role the aircraft carries up to 16 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles — enough to destroy a full Soviet company of 16 tanks in a single pass. The Longbow version of the Hellfire uses millimetre-wave radar guidance that allows fire-and-forget engagement in degraded visibility, a significant tactical advantage in European weather conditions.

The AH-64 has seen extensive combat use across every US military operation since the Gulf War. In 1991, Apache crews flew the opening attacks of Operation Desert Storm, destroying Iraqi air defence radar sites with Hellfires to clear a path for coalition air power. Later conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria confirmed the Apache’s ability to provide close air support in complex urban environments — a role the original design did not prioritise but which the aircraft has proven well-suited for.