NASHVILLE — The Army has made “significant headway” in its efforts to replace its Apache helicopters as part of the sweeping changes under the Army Transformation Initiative, one senior Army official said Wednesday.
The ATI, announced nearly a year ago, came with drastic cuts and reprioritizing the service’s aviation fleet — one of the most grandiose being replacing the Apache AH-64D models with the AH-64E models.
“I’m pleased to report we’ve made significant headway,” Col. Tim Jaeger, director of Army aviation at the G3/5/7, said Wednesday at the AAAA conference. “To put this into perspective, we’ve already transferred two thirds. We’re already two thirds of the way through to this complex process of rebalancing our fleet.
“We’re successfully replacing legacy airframes with modern ones and divested nearly 60 percent of our 64 [Ds] while simultaneously yielding roughly 80 percent of our [E models],” he added, explaining that entailed the transfer of 1,100 aircraft within a year.
Though it has received various rounds of updates since, the 64D model was first fielded in 1997, and the E-model came later in 2013. The E-model is equipped with increased engine power, enhanced digital connectivity, the ability to fly in more severe weather and modernized rotor blades.
Jaeger’s comments Wednesday come as procurement funding for Apaches in the Pentagon’s budget request decreased dramatically from $361.7 million in FY26 to $1.5 million in FY27. However, Jaeger said that Apaches likely aren’t going anywhere even if the Army doesn’t procure as many.
“For the foreseeable future, … when we go to war, we’ll fight with our Apaches, our Blackhawks, our Chinooks and then we’ll be complimented by the Cheyenne coming,” he said, referring to the newly-named MV-75.
Switching out the old Apache models with the newer ones is not the only headway the service has made in terms of modernizing its fleet, Jaeger said. Another considerable change spurred by ATI is the reduction of Army Combat Aviation Brigades by removing one Aerial Cavalry Squadron per CAB. As of late last year, seven ACSs have been deactivated, with one, the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, being redesignated, or “re-flagged” to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Jaeger explained.
He added that the next CABs to face transformation will be within the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Cavalry Division.
