Apache attack helicopter to be deployed at the Pathankot airbase -

New Delhi: The first US made, ‘Apache Guardian AH-64 I’ attack helicopter, will be delivered to India in July. It is reported that after inducting it into the Indian Airforce, the helicopter will be deployed at the Pathankot Airforce base. It is clear that this deployment is in view of the Pakistan threat.

The Indian Airforce signed a contract for the supply of 22 Apache helicopters with the Boeing company in September 2015. The Boeing company handed over the first Apache helicopter to the Indian Airforce in May. The handing over ceremony was held at the Mesa base of Boeing, in the US States of Arizona. One more Apache helicopter will reach India around mid-July, and soon, it will be inducted in the Indian Airforce. This attack helicopter is capable of flying at a height of 21,000 feet and therefore will prove very useful in the operations in the mountain regions. This is the first attack helicopter purchased from the United States. The Indian Airforce was using the Russian made MI-25 and MI-35 helicopters, till now.

Apache, a super advanced helicopter, capable of operating in the day as well as in the night, with the same efficiency, has an ultramodern Radar system. Apache is equipped with air-to-surface, anti-tank missiles. This helicopter is also equipped with air-to-surface rockets and Chain Guns, capable of firing 625 rounds per minute. With the Apache helicopter, a precise attack can be executed on the enemy, and this will tremendously increase the capability of the Indian Airforce.

The Apache helicopters have made some remarkable contributions during the counter-terror campaigns of the United States, in Iraq and Afghanistan. India has repeatedly asked the United States for Apache helicopters. But Pakistan had been demanding that these helicopters should not be supplied to India, as it feared that they would make it the easy for the Indian Airforce to take action, against the terrorists hiding in the border areas.