Poland leases eight Apache gunships as warmup ahead of major delivery

WARSAW, Poland — The Polish Ministry of National Defence has signed a $300 million deal to lease eight Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters from the United States this year. The contract comes in anticipation of the deliveries of 96 AH-64E copters Poland ordered in August 2024.

Speaking at the official signing ceremony on Feb. 27 at the 56th Aviation Base in Inowrocław, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the intention is to prepare the air force for operating a large Apache fleet designed to boost its attack capabilities.

“In 2028, we are awaiting the first 15 of the 96 units that we ordered last year for a considerable amount of 10 billion dollars,” Kosiniak-Kamysz was quoted in a statement released by his ministry. “This is why we are leasing today, we are spending $300 million on this, so that our pilots, ground crews can get familiar with this gear, learn all the skills, take control of it.”

Deliveries of the 96 aircraft with related gear and weapons are scheduled to be completed in 2032. Once the helicopters are supplied to Poland, the country’s military is expected to be the second-largest user of the Apaches in the world after the United States.

Under the offset agreements concluded as part of the procurement, Polish defense companies will be involved in servicing and upgrading the helos.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰国防部签署了一项价值3亿美元的协议，将于今年从美国租赁8架波音AH-64D“阿帕奇”武装直升机。该合同的签订是为了迎接波兰于2024年8月订购的96架AH-64E武装直升机的交付。

2月27日，波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什在伊诺弗罗茨瓦夫第56航空基地举行的正式签约仪式上发表讲话时表示，此举旨在使空军做好操作大型阿帕奇机队的准备，以增强其攻击能力。

科西尼亚克-卡米什在其部门发布的一份声明中表示：“我们去年订购了96套设备，总价值高达100亿美元，但要到2028年才能收到首批15套。这就是为什么我们今天选择租赁，为此花费3亿美元，以便我们的飞行员和地勤人员能够熟悉这些设备，学习所有相关技能，并最终能够操控它们。”

96架飞机及相关装备和武器的交付计划于2032年完成。一旦这些直升机交付给波兰，该国军队预计将成为继美国之后世界上第二大阿帕奇直升机用户。

根据采购过程中签订的抵消协议，波兰国防公司将参与直升机的维修和升级。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。