Chinooki instead of apachas. The Ministry is analyzing the possibility of renegotiating the purchase of helicopters from the USA
Purchase of 96 AH-64E APACHE shock helicopters for $ 10 billion. It is one of the most criticized decisions of the Ministry of Defense in recent years – writes the WNP portal. Apache is perfect, but extremely difficult to pilot and expensive helicopters in buying and using.
Training the AH-64E Apache pilot is very difficult. The helicopter crew consists of two people: pilot and shooter/second pilot. To use the potential of these machines, we would need at least two crews for one helicopter. This gives a large number of 192 crews for Polish conditions, i.e. 384 pilots.
Chinooki instead of apachas?
In the Ministry of National Defense, a reduction in the number of ordered AH-64 APACHE helicopters to order in their place Ch-47 Chinook is to be considered. Both Apache and Chinooki are produced by the same corporation – Boeing.
“CH-47 Chinook is perfectly fits into the needs of the Polish Armed Forces. This is a machine with an impressive capacity of over 10 tons. It is also ideal as a logistics workller, which will be useful in servicing the Apache fleet and will carry out tasks for the rest of the Polish Armed Forces”-the opinion of experts was cited.
Japan, South Korea, Germany, France and even the USA give up or reduce the number of assault helicopters. “On the other hand, heavy assault helicopters are necessary as a complement to the logistics and transport potential of land forces. Chinook is a popular and relatively cheap solution, hence it seems to be a good choice”-we read.
Is the exchange possible?
“However, the question arises: will even as residual as a gigantic contract for apache offset contracts allow to easily replace one helicopter into another? Not to mention trade unions and boeing shareholders” – wonders Bartłomiej Kucharski, a journalist and editor in the magazine “Army and technique”.
However, while for Poland a substitute would be a good alternative, not necessarily for Americans. Apache helicopters are being built in other factories than Chinooki. In addition, the queue of the latter is long.
“It is an unrivaled machine in its class and irreplaceable by drones. It is completely different in the case of the AH-64 Apache, where it is said about the need to replace it by unmanned machines,” said in the material.
Poland has not had real helicopters so far. Polish Mi-17 can take half as much as the latest versions of the CH-47.
