On July 27, the Indian Air Force received the first four AH-64E Apache helicopter gunships. On the same day, the Indian Air Force announced the deployment of the Apache, which will be deployed at the Bertankod Air Force Base in Punjab, India.
The Bertango Air Force Base is located on the border of India and Pakistan. It is the closest air force base to India from Pakistan – less than 30 kilometers from the India-Pakistan border. This means that after Apache takes off, it takes only 10 minutes to get into Pakistan. This is a very big threat to Pakistan.
It is well known that the Punjab province of India is opposite the Punjab province of Pakistan. For India and Pakistan, Punjab is a strategically better one. Pakistan’s Punjab province is located in central Pakistan, connecting the capital and the largest city of Karachi. It is also the most developed region in Pakistan’s economy, with Punjab’s GDP accounting for 60% of Pakistan’s total economy. Once the Punjab is lost, Pakistan will not only lose the most developed areas, but also the country will be divided between the north and the south.
Punjab is dominated by plains, and some are desert areas. Such terrain is suitable for mechanized corps operations. To this end, the Indian army has specially set up an integrated battle group, which is deployed in the Punjab province of India, so as to launch a blitzkrieg to the Punjab province of Pakistan at any time. The Indian army called it a cold start strategy. With the arrival of the Apache armed helicopters, Pakistan is under increasing pressure.
Pakistan has always attached great importance to the defense of the Punjab province. In the heavy town of Multan, the 1st Armored Division of the 2nd Army of the Pakistan Army was deployed. This division is equipped with the T-80UD main battle tank. Before Type 2000 Main Battle Tank was equipped with troops, the T-80UD was the best performing main battle tank of the Pakistan Army, and it was completely resistant to the Indian Army’s latest T-90S main battle tank. Now that the Apache armed helicopters have joined, T-80UD may not be able to resist the joint attack of the Indian air and space integration.
Pakistan is also well aware of the power of the Apache armed helicopters and has also launched a new generation of helicopter gunship projects. Purchasing 15 AH-1Z gunships from the United States, 30 T-129 gunships from Turkey, and four Mi-35M gunships from Russia. If these plans are completed, the Pakistan Army Air Force will have 50 new armed helicopters capable of countering the threat posed by the Indian Army equipped Apache helicopters. However, the international situation has undergone a fundamental change. First, the United States stopped supporting the Pakistani army and refused to deliver the AH-1Z helicopter gunships. Then the US-Turkish relationship broke down and the United States refused to supply Turkey with the engine of T-129 gunship. And India has also put pressure on Russia to stop Russia’s defense cooperation with Pakistan. It is said that Russia has stopped selling AK-120 assault rifles to Pakistan, so Pakistan’s desire to expand the imported Mi-35M helicopter gunships has also become a bubble.
Russia considers the Indian factor and is not willing to sell more Mi-35M gunships to Pakistan.
Faced with this situation, Chinese military expert Xiao Feizhu believes that Pakistan Army Air Force must have regretted not having chosen CAIC WZ-10 armed helicopter from China. According to the 2018 Shanghai Zhuhai Air Show, the biggest improvement of WZ-10ME is the replacement of WZ-9 turboshaft modified engine. This engine uses a more efficient compressor and the maximum power is increased to more than 1200 KW. In this way, with a maximum takeoff weight of 6 tons, WZ-10ME’s takeoff weight ratio is as high as 0.4KW/kg, AH-64E has a maximum takeoff weight of 11 tons, and its engine T700-GE-701D turboshaft engine power is about 1500KW, so its weight-to-weight ratio is approximately 0.3 KW/kg. Therefore, the flight performance of WZ-10ME is higher than that of AH-64E.
In addition, WZ-10ME also adds functions such as controlling unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles. It can release drones for large-scale reconnaissance and surveillance, and detect the whereabouts of the other side. This is very important for Pakistani Army’s aviation forces, for it to track India army’s integrated combat groups and get defensive early.