The US Army’s Apache helicopters are crashing at a historically high rate amid a widespread problem with the model’s transmission, according to a CNN analysis of military accident data.
The helicopter type has experienced five major crashes since October, and a deadly mishap earlier this month in Texas killed two soldiers, sparked a wildfire and led the Army to temporarily bar Apache pilots from conducting routine training flights. With that crash, fiscal year 2026 is on pace to be the second worst for Apache flight accidents since a new model of the AH-64 was rolled out in 2011.
The Army announced that the pause in training flights, which exempted units deployed to the Middle East, ended Wednesday.
Skynet possibility aside, it seems impossible to regain dominance. When the Pentagon cannot make a good argument for rebuilding GCC bases, because of their obvious Iran capability to destroy them again a week later, they are further effectively admitting that the budget requests needed to overcome that incapacity can no longer be passed by congress.
This is a bigger, though newer, problem with F35. Lockheed clampdown on providing manuals to US army, and all service done through them, makes it an extremely expensive program. Low flight readiness ratio reflects the requirement to canibalize parts from some planes for the ones that fly. For decades, US weapons programs have been an oligarchy enrichment program to spend as much as possible, independent of security/capability enhancement.