WASHINGTON — Boeing Apache production won a foreign military sales contract to provide the U.S. Army with new AH-64E attack helicopters, including 96 that will go to Poland as part of more than $7 billion in awards to the company from the Pentagon. The contract, signed under the FMS program, is for aircraft, Longbow crew training systems and support packages for a number of allied customers, but it also cements the Pentagon’s promising new round of major aerospace contracts, Nov. 26, 2025.
Boeing Apache FMS deal secures $7 billion in Pentagon awards.
The Army award, outlined in a Pentagon contract notice, is for full-rate production of AH-64E Apache Guardian aircraft, Longbow crew trainers , and associated equipment for both U.S. and foreign militaries. A separate Reuters report noted that 96 of these helicopters are assigned to Poland, which is the largest Boeing Apache order for the U.S. customer. The $4.7 billion deal is combined with a $2.4 billion modification to the U.S. Air Force’s purchase of 15 more KC-46A Pegasus aerial refuelling tankers, so Boeing’s total haul from Thursday’s announcements tops $7 billion. The news lifted Boeing’s shares following a year of commercial aviation setbacks and regulatory scrutiny, the industry outlet Investor’s Business Daily observed. Deliveries of the new Apaches are scheduled to start in 2028, Boeing said in a separate announcement focused on Poland, adding that Poland will have the largest fleet of Boeing Apache gunships outside the United States.
Poland’s record Boeing Apache order part of wider rearmament drive
In Warsaw, the Boeing Apache agreement translates a multi-year procurement process into funded production at Boeing’s factory in Mesa, Arizona. Poland first announced plans to purchase 96 AH-64Es in 2022, and the U.S. State Department cleared a potential $12 billion package that included helicopters, weapons, and training in a 2023 notification. Much of that framework took root when Poland signed its August 2024 contract with the United States for Apache helicopters, as separate reports by Reuters and Defence News noted. In parallel, Warsaw entered into offset agreements with Boeing and General Electric totalling nearly 1 billion zlotys to develop local maintenance and engine-support capabilities for the new fleet – deepening the relationship with the Boeing Apache industrial base for decades to come.
Poland already leases eight Apaches from the U.S. Army, has begun training pilots and maintainers, and is set to deploy the world’s second-largest Apache force after the United States once all 96 aircraft are delivered. The Boeing Apache fleet will replace Poland’s Soviet-era Mi-24 gunships and boost NATO’s eastern flank as Warsaw raises defence spending to more than 4 per cent of gross domestic product following Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The deal extends the sustained production line for the Boeing Apache.
The FMS award is on top of a previous multi-year initiative to ensure health in Boeing Apache production for the U.S. Army and exports. Boeing had a contract to build 184 AH-64E helicopters for the service and international operators, valued at some $1.9 billion initially [sic], with the Army under its Multi-Year II agreement in March 2023, according to Boeing’s July 28 release covering its Apache business for that year and comments from the Army following signings of those vessels. The company has since continued to secure Apache work from customers such as Egypt and Kuwait, and now Poland, a defence analyst firm, Jane’s recently reported.
The debate inside the Pentagon over how much future attack aviation should be manned versus unmanned has not stopped the Army from modernising its fleet of AH-64Es or from spending money on training tools such as augmented-reality simulators for Apache crews. The new FMS order extends years of steady work for dozens of Boeing Apache suppliers in the United States and Europe, spanning from fuselage fabrication and rotor systems to mission software upgrades.
For allies, the Boeing Apache remains a proven method of delivering precision firepower and reconnaissance reach at the brigade and corps levels, despite some militaries challenging the survivability of attack helicopters in high-end conflicts. Boeing, meanwhile, has the Apache contract alongside further KC-46A tanker orders—underscoring how its defence and services portfolio is helping to cushion a rough ride on the commercial side of the business while keeping one of its most recognisable combat aircraft in frontline service until well into the 2030s.
