Did China Rip off the Apache?
During the opening shots of the Cold War, Stalin had the B-29 Superfortress reverse-engineered to make the first Russki intercontinental bomber. The Chinese, looking to get into aircraft carriers, bought the old HMS Melbourne for scrap in the 1970s then examined her for twenty years before moving on to Russian pre-owned casino carriers.
Well, it looks as if the Chinese have gone the Stalin route and cloned a AH-64 Apache.
No one has seen it fly yet, and it may just be a mock-up, but still. Holy xerox batman!
Most likely propaganda, it’s easy to copy the basic shape, Revell makes a good model of the Apache, but without the powertrain, avionics and advanced weaponry it’s only a model.
If they had really cloned our Apache they would keep it under wraps until completing flight testing.
There is nothing more embarrassing then unveiling a new weapon just to watch it fall flat on its skids during testing, just ask the F35 folks 😉