A New Mission for One of the Army’s Most Iconic Aircraft For decades, the AH-64 Apache was built to destroy tanks and provide close support to troops on the ground. Now the Army is giving it a mission few expected: hunting drones. The rise of drone swarms in Ukraine, the Red Sea, and across the Middle East has pushed every service to rethink air defense. Fixed systems like Patriot, Avenger, and IFPC provide critical coverage, but they can’t be everywhere. The Army’s own analysis, echoed through