Poland's Apache deal: $10 billion purchase, $20 billion upkeep
How much will Poles pay for 96 Apache helicopters? The $10 billion (about CAD 13.5 billion) reported in connection with the agreement signed in August 2024 is not the entirety of the expenses that Poland must incur for the purchase, implementation, and operation of attack helicopters. When these issues are considered, the total cost is significantly higher.
The answer to how much the Apache helicopters cost Poland is seemingly simple. For two years, information about the helicopters was accompanied by an amount approved by the State Department, which gave the go-ahead for the transaction.
However, this was not the final price but a maximum price approved by the American administration: the upper limit for the executive agreement, which—as shown by past practice—is usually significantly lower. That was also the case here.
The executive agreement (LOA, Letter of Acceptance) set the payment for the helicopters at $10 billion (approx. CAD 13.5 billion). But even this amount doesn't explain much. Why?
How much does an Apache helicopter bought by Poland cost?
Military equipment orders usually come with information about their price. This leads to calculations where the value of the agreement is divided by the number of units acquired. It gives a value that is easy to compare, assessing whether Poland, the United Kingdom, or some other country paid more for a given weapon system. The problem is that such a comparison explains little.
This arises from the fact that equipment purchases are usually accompanied by the purchase of a logistics package, training, spare parts, or even weapons. This was also the case here—"96 Apache helicopters" is actually nearly a hundred machines, but also an undisclosed stockpile of weapons for them, a parts package, or personnel training.
Already at this stage, the amount starts to grow because—although Poland bought a "training package" with the AH-64E, to accelerate the readiness of Polish machines—a separate agreement for training Polish pilots in the United States was signed and includes the leasing of eight machines, which will allow further training in the country.
The purchase is just the beginning of expenses
The avalanche of costs, however, occurs when we consider not just the purchase price (even with the additional services package) but the operational cost calculated for the entire lifecycle of a given weapon—taking into account not just training or overhauls, but also the construction of infrastructure for the specific type of equipment or MLU (mid-life upgrade), performed halfway through the equipment's lifecycle.
How costly these types of actions are is shown by the modernization of Polish F-16s. In 2003, for 48 machines in the F-16C/D Block 52+ Advanced variant, Poland paid $3.5 billion (approx. CAD 4.75 billion). More than 20 years later, the MLU modernization package, thanks to which Polish machines will be brought to the latest F-16V standard, was priced at (maximum) $7.3 billion (approx. CAD 9.9 billion).
This price includes not only the reconstruction of the airplanes themselves but also weapons necessary to conduct flight tests, spare parts, software support, or the logistics of various parts deliveries. It again makes it impossible to unequivocally indicate how much we will pay for the modernization of a single unit.
Australia, a few years ago, made an attempt to estimate the total costs of purchasing and operating attack helicopters, analyzing the justification for selecting a new attack helicopter or retaining the ones already in service—the contract was in competition with the AH-1Z Viper, EC665 Tiger ARH and AH-64E. Ultimately, Canberra decided to retire 22 operated Tigers and purchase 29 AH-64E helicopters for $4 billion (approx. CAD 5.4 billion).
Even $700 million annually
The Defence 24 service also presented a report on the total costs that Poland will incur in connection with the purchase of Apache helicopters, based on data disclosed by the British Ministry of Defence.
The United Kingdom, with 50 units of the AH-64E, assumes that acquiring (in this case, reconstructing from the AH-64D version) 50 helicopters will cost $2.3 billion (approx. CAD 3.14 billion), and the annual operating costs, excluding infrastructure and weapons costs, amount to about 1/30 of the purchase price.
Based on this data, Defence 24 states: "it can be estimated with a fairly high probability that the cost of maintaining the helicopters will be at least equal to their purchase cost and may even exceed it depending on the adopted exploitation model and the number of modernizations."
In practice, this means additional costs ranging from $10-20 billion (approx. CAD 13.5-27 billion) depending on whether Poland decides on MLU in the future, which—in the case of the upper limit—even $700 million annually (approx. CAD 954 million). Therefore, negotiating favourable offset agreements or the widest possible range of overhauls and operational work carried out by Polish industry forces is so important.
Thanks to this, Military Aviation Works No. 1 in Łódź will be able to conduct inspections and repairs of some AH-64E components, and the Dęblin branch of WZL1 will gain competencies to overhaul the T-700-701D, CT7-2E1, and CT7-8E engines, used not only in Apaches but also in S-70i Black Hawk, AW101, or AW149 helicopters. This provides a chance that a significant part of the expenses related to the operation of the purchased helicopters will remain in the country.
