By 1500 EST on 31 May 23, the commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, announced that their entire fleet of U.S.-made Apache attack helicopters would be grounded due to an abnormal finding during routine maintenance.
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— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) May 31, 2023
Israel did not disclose what the issue was nor did they provide a timeframe for when their fleet of forty-eight AH-64D “Saraf” would be airborne again.
The Israeli Defense Forces last grounded the Apache in 2017 after rotor blades were found cracked in a number of their platforms and a pilot died and co-pilot were injured in a 2017 crash. The airframe was grounded from August to October until the fleet was certified to fly. According to Israeli media:
”The crash occurred two months after Israel’s Apache squadrons were grounded after a 7.8in (20cm)-long crack was found in a tail rotor blade during a routine inspection. Further checks including the use of X-ray resulted in the air force reducing the replacement schedule for the part from 6,600h to 995h.”
