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..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."
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..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."
