USFK receives latest Boeing Apache helicopters at Camp Humphreys

A photo of the AH-64 Version 6 helicopter, the latest version of the Apache aircraft, taking flight at the Boeing manufacturing site in Mesa, Arizona, on Jan. 13, 2021. [BOEING]

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) received deliveries of the latest Boeing Apache attack helicopters to the 4th Battalion (Attack) and 2nd Aviation Regiment (4-2 AB) at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, the force's aviation unit said on Friday.

In a Facebook post Friday, the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade said that it finished fielding the new Apache helicopters slated for Camp Humphreys, the main USFK base on the Korean Peninsula, two days earlier.

This is the first unit outside the continental United States to receive the newest version of the helicopter, dubbed AH-64 Version 6 (V6).

The U.S. Army said on its website last month that a total of 24 of the latest Apache helicopters would be deployed to South Korea through the end of February.

The Apache AH-64E V6 model is the final planned upgrade to the Apache aircraft, replacing the AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. The helicopter features the latest in communications, navigation and sensors, and is equipped with a cognitive decision aiding system.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to fly the Alpha model as well as various versions of the Delta model,” said Lt. Col. Peter Schmitt, the 4-2 Attack Helicopter Battalion Commander, in an interview with the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, an outlet operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

“This AH-64E V6 is far superior to prior generations when you take into consideration its lethality, its survivability, its performance and its maneuverability. This might look like an Apache aircraft, but its capabilities far exceed its predecessors. It is a different attack helicopter, not only from its prior generations, but frankly against a near peer or peer threat.”

The Pentagon’s November announcement of the results of its global defense posture review included a decision to station a previously rotational Apache attack helicopter unit along with an artillery division headquarters in South Korea in response to the growing military threat emanating from North Korea.

Apache aircraft were deployed with the U.S. Army in 1987 and first saw combat in 1991, during the U.S. counter-invasion of Iraq during the Persian Gulf war. Since that time, the aircraft has become the main attack of helicopter of multiple nations, including Greece, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]