It all depends on what and how you are attacking. If yu are sneaking up on something, and need to blow them up from a distance, at night, then the Apache is perfect. It’s amazing how they can sneak up on you. At the last Airshow I went to, held at a local International Airport, one of the local Nat. Guard Apache pilots did a demo for everyone. He takes off, and flies out of view. They had some other demo, time passes, people forget. They announce the apache demo is beginning. Out of nowhere, just a FEW hundred feet from the other side of the runway, they apache popps out of the trees, just 50 feet off the ground. Everybody couldn’t believe it. this guy had snaked in and out of the trees around the airport, and ended up RIGHT in front of the crowd. HE did some really neat N.O.T.E. demos, using the surrounding forest to show the manuerability of the apache. While it is a SLOW chopper, it is EXTREMELY manuverable, dodging and weaving.
The longbow can seriously wipe out huge numbers of targets very quickly witht he radar-ATGM’s. It can take a lot of damage, for a helicopter. When that first was shot down, nearly all of them were hit by heavy fire. The fact that they weren’t “Ready to go” the next day is not the issue. The fact that the helicopters were shot to heck and MADE IT BACK so they COULD BE REPAIRED is what matters.
for an all-out WAR, when you need something to sneak up and kill things–BIG things, Apache is an awesome weapon, and has proven itself many times.
for an Urban conflict, where the helicopter is going to do pinpoint strikes, or cover ground forces, the Apache is out of its element. It is made to fly nap of the earth in order to hide from the enemy. Flying N.O.T.E. over a city is, in hindsight, and unbeliveably asssinine idea. Flying low is to HIDE, flying low over a CITY does ANYTHING but hide you!!!
In this case, the Cobra is a better choice. It canot take the punishment of the apache, but in it’s intended role, the Cobra doesn’t have to. The old vietnam style strikes are what you need in this case, and the Cobra does it just fine.
For a fight when HEAVY firepower is needed, and a stealth, N.O.T.E. is not possible–Too open, cities, etc. The sbility to take a hit is important, as is speed. The cobra has speed, but not armor, the apache has armor and manuverability, but not speed. It seems the Russian AH’s have this combination, and would be a much better Il-2 type aircraft.
I think that the closest thing the US has to that is the A-10.
But that’s just in an airshow and you don’t know how others would perform the same way.
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