HOME | DD

Description
The business end of a Boeing AH-64A Apache of no. 301 squadron, Royal Netherlands Air Force at the Hechtel-Eksel Air Show (Belgium) in 2001.

About the Apache:

Drawing from the US Army's experiences with the AH-1G Cobra in Vietnam, and after the cancellation of the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne, the US Army was wanting for a high-performance, heavily armed attack helicopter. The specifications were given to Bell and Hughes, Bell producing the YAH-63 and Hughes the YAH-64. Hughes won the contract, and the first production AH-64 rolled off the line in 1983.

Heavily armored with kevlar and steel, the AH-64 was designed to take a lot of punishing, including direct hits on vital parts such as its blades. It has a crew of two, a pilot and a gunner. It is armed with a heavy, 30-mm chain gun, but its primary weapons system is the AGM-114 'Hellfire' rocket. It is also capable of carrying FFAR 2.75-inch unguided rockets, with either up to 4 racks with 4 Hellfires, or 4 pods with 19 FFAR's under its wings.

The type has since proved itself in the 1991 Gulf War, though its involvement in the subsequent 1999 Kosovo War and the ongoing 'Iraqi Freedom' campaign has proved it to be more vulnerable than was originally thought.

Description
The business end of a Boeing AH-64A Apache of no. 301 squadron, Royal Netherlands Air Force at the Hechtel-Eksel Air Show (Belgium) in 2001.

About the Apache:

Drawing from the US Army's experiences with the AH-1G Cobra in Vietnam, and after the cancellation of the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne, the US Army was wanting for a high-performance, heavily armed attack helicopter. The specifications were given to Bell and Hughes, Bell producing the YAH-63 and Hughes the YAH-64. Hughes won the contract, and the first production AH-64 rolled off the line in 1983.

Heavily armored with kevlar and steel, the AH-64 was designed to take a lot of punishing, including direct hits on vital parts such as its blades. It has a crew of two, a pilot and a gunner. It is armed with a heavy, 30-mm chain gun, but its primary weapons system is the AGM-114 'Hellfire' rocket. It is also capable of carrying FFAR 2.75-inch unguided rockets, with either up to 4 racks with 4 Hellfires, or 4 pods with 19 FFAR's under its wings.

The type has since proved itself in the 1991 Gulf War, though its involvement in the subsequent 1999 Kosovo War and the ongoing 'Iraqi Freedom' campaign has proved it to be more vulnerable than was originally thought.