IAF Inducting Apaches In August

Close on the heels of Boeing C-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters being inducted to re-equip Chandigarh-based no.126 HU, Indian Air Force (IAF) is now readying itself to induct another Boeing-made iconic Apache attack helicopter’s latest model, the AH-64e into service this year.

- Jimmy Bhatia

The IAF is scheduled to take delivery in August of the first four of 22 Apache Guardian attack helicopters it had ordered in September 2015 for $2.02 billion (Rs 14,000 crore). The twin-engined helicopters will be transported by a Us Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft to Pathankot Air Force station in Punjab, close to Pak border, where they will be assembled for re-equipping the existing no.125 HU (Helicopter Unit) by the end of the year.

Delivery of the remaining platforms is expected to be completed by end 2020. notably, no. 125 HU was the first attack helicopter unit of the IAF, which was raised in Pathankot with the then soviet-built Mi-25s on November 1, 1983. Known as the ‘Gladiators’, the unit was later re-equipped with Mi-35, the improved version of its predecessor, in April 1990. After three decades of operation, these will now be replaced by state-of-the-art Apaches, for which necessary infrastructure has been created at a feverish pace at Pathankot with only the finishing touches remaining.