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Plane CrashesVersion 2

Two Soldiers Killed in Army Apache Helicopter Crash in Bell County, Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the AH-64 Apache went down during Fort Hood operations; the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 13, 2026, 4:13 a.m. ET
soldiers were killed when a helicopter crashed in Bell County, Texas, during operations, according to reporting by The Independent and the Times of India. The operator was given as the by The Independent and as the by the Times of India. The situation is developing and details remain incomplete. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on X that an Apache helicopter had crashed in Bell County during operations. Both outlets reported fatalities. The identities of the soldiers were withheld pending notification of their families. Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cliff Coleman described the incident as a "violent crash". A military official, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press that the helicopter was on a routine training flight before it went down. The crash ignited a large grass fire, and sparked a wildfire that forced the evacuation of several homes. The helicopter did not strike any homes or other structures, according to Coleman. The phase of flight has not been established. The Times of India gave as the nearest city; times were reported in . The cause has not been determined. Coleman said 's criminal investigation division was leading the crash investigation, according to The Independent, which described it as the crash investigation, and the Times of India, which described it as the inquiry. That is a statement of which body has the case, not a finding about what happened. The individual aircraft has not been identified. Registry records list one aircraft on the registry under the ; that is a record of the operator's registered holdings and not an identification of the helicopter involved.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
741 ft
Nearest aerodrome
5.7 miles ESE of Fort Hood Landing Strip 50 (US-6498)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 213 Aug 2026, 08:13current

    Added Times of India as a second source, identified Coleman as Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesman and his "violent crash" description, added the wildfire evacuation of several homes, and noted the sourced variations in operator naming and investigation wording.

  2. Version 113 Aug 2026, 08:07

    First published.

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