Following on yesterday's "Poland Will Have a Large and Modern Tank Army".
From The Drive's The War Zone vertical, September 8:
Poland says it plans to buy as many as 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, which will replace its aging fleet of around 30 Cold War-era Mi-24 Hind gunships and then some. This would also make the Polish Land Forces the second-largest AH-64 operator worldwide, behind the U.S. Army.
The announcement reflects a broader multi-billion-dollar Polish military spending spree, spurred in part by the current conflict in Ukraine. Just this year, authorities in Poland have announced places to purchase of 48 FA-50 light combat jets and 180 K2 tanks, among other things, from South Korea, as well as 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks from the United States. This follows other major procurement programs in recent years, including an order for 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, who was in Germany today as part of the latest meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Contact Group, was the first to make the announcement about the Apache deal, via an unexpected post on Twitter earlier today. The AH-64E had been competing with Bell's AH-1Z Viper for Poland's long-running Kruk (meaning Raven) attack helicopter tender....
....MUCH MORE
Deadly nasty killing machines.
So the distance from Warsaw to Brussels being 1160 km (721 miles) and with a ferry range of 1,900km the copters would need to be refueled outbound and for a return trip. Unless it's a kamikaze mission.
