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.
