AH-64A Apache
The original tank-hunter — night sights, Hellfires and a 30 mm chain gun · First flight 1975 · In service 1986
The Apache began as the Hughes Model 77, built for the US Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter programme to replace the AH-1 Cobra. The YAH-64 prototype first flew on 30 September 1975 and was chosen over the Bell YAH-63 in 1976. Full-scale production was approved in 1982, McDonnell Douglas bought Hughes Helicopters in 1984, and the first production AH-64A was accepted in January 1984; the first operational unit began training in April 1986.
The A model set the pattern for every later Apache: two crew in tandem in an armoured cockpit, a nose turret with night-vision and targeting sensors, a 30 mm M230 chain gun slaved to the gunner's helmet sight, and stub wings for Hellfire missiles and Hydra rockets. It was powered by two GE T700-GE-701 turboshafts until 1990, when the more powerful -701C was adopted.
The Apache was first used in combat in 1989, during Operation Just Cause in Panama, and played a major role in the 1991 Gulf War. Exports went to Israel (from 1990), Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Greece. The US Army retired its last AH-64A in July 2012, as the remaining airframes were rebuilt to AH-64D standard.
