AH-64D Apache Longbow
The Apache with the radar dome on its mast — and a glass cockpit beneath it · First flight 1992 · In service 1997
Development of the AH-64D was approved in August 1990, the first prototype flew on 15 April 1992 and full-scale production followed on 13 October 1995. The first production AH-64D flew on 17 March 1997 and was delivered to the US Army the same month. Most US Army D models were remanufactured from AH-64As — a 1996 contract alone covered 232 conversions.
The defining feature is the AN/APG-78 Longbow millimetre-wave fire-control radar and its radar frequency interferometer, housed in the dome above the main rotor. The raised position lets the crew scan from behind trees, terrain or buildings; the radar can track up to 128 targets and engage 16 of them, and a data modem shares targets with other Apaches. The D also gained a glass cockpit, an enlarged forward fuselage and uprated T700-GE-701C engines; Block II aircraft with digital communications arrived from February 2003.
The Netherlands ordered 30 in 1995 (delivered 1998–2002), and Israel, Greece, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE also flew D models. In Japan, Fuji Heavy Industries licence-built the AH-64DJP; 50 were planned, but the order was halted after 13 had been delivered.
