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Aerospace and defense giant Boeing secured a contract to produce 96 Apache helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces as the company scales up its manufacturing capabilities in Mesa, Arizona.

Mariusz B艂aszczak, Poland鈥檚 Minister of Defense, September 8th that the Central European nation had selected Boeing Defense, Space & Security to be its partner for the KRUK Attack Helicopter Program, an initiative started to the currently 鈥渙utdated, Soviet-designed Mil Mi-24 fleet.鈥�

Since Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, Poland has in modernizing its military. During their International Defense Industry Exhibition (MSPO), the Apache helicopters and were introduced by Adam Hodges, the Capture Team Lead for Vertical Life International Sales at Boeing.

The Apaches for Poland are all expected to be newly manufactured. As Hodges explained to reporters before the announcement, 鈥渢here is no Apache [in the boneyard], and in Mesa we produce 80-100 aircraft per year.鈥� 

No price tag has yet been released, but a between Boeing and the Australian government for 29 AH-64E Apache helicopters came in at $3.83 billion.

Meanwhile, Boeing鈥檚 operations in Mesa have only been expanding. On September 15th, Boeing the 155,000 square-foot Advanced Composition Fabrication Center, a $150 million facility which will produce 鈥渁dvanced composite components for future combat aircraft programs鈥�

While Boeing said they could not disclose which programs will be manufactured in Mesa, they said that their newest facility would be at 鈥渢he front end of the next capabilities coming down for our warfighter.鈥�

This deal comes as the aerospace industry continues to grow in Arizona. Leading companies, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon Missile and Defense, and Northrop Gruman, have operations throughout the state in recent years.

Mark Gaspers, Boeing鈥檚 senior manager of governmental operations, highlighted the state鈥檚 attractive qualities, that 鈥渨ith research and university preeminence, technology clusters in areas like optics and sensors, and a large engineering workforce to grow from, Arizona has the key components for the industry鈥檚 future.鈥�

In a statement by Boeing, the company the Apache deal will strengthen 鈥淯S-Polish military ties by enhancing interoperability and cooperation between Poland, the U.S. Army and NATO nations.鈥�

Polish officials also applauded the deal for increasing security in the region, noting that  鈥渟uch a fundamental benefit is the fact that the Polish Army is armed with modern weapons. The immediate advantage is that Poland is safe.鈥�

The AH-64E Apaches as the United States Army鈥檚 attack helicopter, built to destroy enemy targets 鈥渋n obscured battlefield conditions.鈥� They with 鈥渁ir-to-ground missiles that can hit targets up to 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) away.鈥� The new model features updated targeting systems and enhanced imaging capabilities.