U.S. Approves $2.3 Billion Refurbishment Package for Egyptian Apache Attack Helicopters

The U.S. State Department has approved a large refurbishment package for 43 Egyptian AH-64D/E Apache attack helicopters, under a contract estimated at $2.3 billion. Egypt has operated the Apache since the 1990s, after a first order wass placed in 1995, and it is currently one of the aircraft's largest foreign operators. A possible deal for refurbishment follows the approval of a $1 billion contract in November 2018 to provide Egypt with ten AH-64E Apaches to further expand its fleet, which has seen considerable action in recent years particularly in counterinsurgency operations over the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian Apaches are notably less capable than those marketed to other foreign clients, as they are denied access to the Longbow Radar which seriously restricts their situational awareness.

With the total volume of American weapons sales to Egypt having declined significantly in the 2010s, with a change in government in 2013 heralding the beginning of a transition away from the reliance of American arms in many key sectors and particularly in the Air Force and the Army’s armoured units, Apache sales remain one of the major remaining areas of cooperation.  Egypt has also placed larger orders for the newer Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters, which boast multiple performance advantages over the Apache and can be deployed from the Navy’s Mistral Class assault carriers. The U.S. Army is itself looking to phase the Apache out of service in the coming years as it considers a number of replacement designs, with the aircraft increasingly outgunned by rival Russian designs and China, a relative newcomer to the field, increasingly closing the gap with new variants of its rapidly progressing Z-10 program.