Four servicemembers were aboard a Joint Base Lewis-McChord helicopter when it crashed late Wednesday night just outside of Olympia.

A military helicopter crashed near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state late Wednesday night, officials said. The chopper went down around 9 p.m. near Summit Lake, which sits about 30 miles west of the base, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s office. The base, an Army-Air Force installation, sits about 30 miles south of Seattle.

Prior to Wednesday, at least four helicopters from JBLM have crashed in the past 20 years, according to news reports. March 25, 2024 — Apache AH-64E helicopter crashes on JBLM property during a routine training exercise, injuring two pilots.

Deputies and firefighters are working to reach a crash site after a military helicopter went down late Wednesday night, sparking a fire.

In a renewed show of support for Israel, which faces growing global isolation over the Gaza war, the Donald Trump administration has notified Congress of plans to sell nearly $6 billion in weapons to the US ally.

Adding C-UAS capabilities to the Apache would give the Army a mobile platform that flies slow enough (about 150 knots) to take down UAS that slip through the cracks. The helicopter's sensor and communication systems can also give personnel advanced warning of drone threats.

The Apache helicopter is one of the most feared military helicopters in the world, and with good reason. The Apache has a top speed of 186 mph, it's armed to the teeth with a multitude of missiles, rockets, and ballistic weaponry, and it's incredibly ...

Although the AH-64 Apache is not intended to be a counter-drone platform, it is important to have counter-drone capabilities because of the prevalence of drones on the modern battlefield.

The request includes a $3. 8 billion deal for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters, which would double Israel's current supply.

The origins of military helicopters go back to the 1940s when the U.S. Army appointed aviator Igor Sikorsky to build a more advanced version of the VS-300, his first model. This new aircraft, known as the VS-316 and later called the XR-4, first flew in 1942.