On Saturday, the Twitter handle of Boeing's India unit tweeted that the first four of 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for the Indian Air Force had arrived.
India is now the 15th country that will be flying the Apache, famous for its role in killing main battle tanks and other ground targets in the Kuwait war of 1991 and numerous other conflicts. What makes the Indian Air Force purchase of the Apache unique will be the fact that these US-built helicopters will be flying on the same side as Russian-origin tanks they were originally designed to destroy.
The Apache was designed in the early 1970s, at the height of the Cold War, for the primary purpose of destroying the vast tank fleets of the erstwhile Soviet Union. It flew for the first time in 1975, two years after the Soviet Army introduced its T-72 tank. The Apache was designed to fly at tree-top level to target the then new generation of Soviet tanks that had higher-calibre guns than their predecessors. The primary weapons of the Apache to kill tanks were the TOW and Hellfire anti-tank missiles, of which it could carry up to 16.
Ironically, about 3,400 of the Indian Army's fleet of 4,000-odd tanks are of Russian origin! This includes approximately 2,400 T-72 tanks and over 1,000 of the newer T-90 tanks. None of the other 14 nations flying the Apache have such a vast inventory of Russian-origin tanks. While Egypt still operates tanks purchased from the period of the Soviet Union, there is no clarity on whether it will purchase newer tanks from Russia. India, on the other hand, is adding to its fleet of T-90 tanks. In April, the Narendra Modi government initiated the process to purchase 464 more T-90 tanks.
The Indian Air Force announced a deal for 22 AH-64E Apaches in 2015 at a cost of $1.4 billion. In 2018, the Indian Army also joined the 'Apache club', ordering six aircraft in 2018, at a cost of $930 million. The first Apache helicopters for the Indian Air Force arrived at the Hindon airbase outside New Delhi on Saturday. They will be transferred to the Pathankot base for induction.
In addition to anti-tank missiles, the Apache can carry unguided and guided rockets to hit lightly armoured targets and has a 30mm gun in the nose for strafing. India has also ordered hundreds of Stinger air-to-air missiles for the Apache helicopters for the Air Force and Army, possibly keeping in mind the threat of drones.