Cobras on the ramp at Multan

Project X
Ignore the flame bait, stick to the subject, some posters always try anf divert the subject if they are losing an arguement…..

Also
regarding the whole TOW vs Hellfire debate

the latest issue of AFM (Feb 2004) has Marine Corps AH-1W pilots cursing the fact that their new AH-1Zs will not be able to fire Tow, their experiance in Aghanistan and Iraq led them to these conclusions apparently….

Sabreace
Talk is cheap, lets not pretend Pakistan will be a walk over, after the attack on the Indian parliament India mobilised its army and warned Pakistan that they were coming…………..then they walked back to their barracks! Again, congratulations on trying the change the subject, can we now go back to helicopter talk or do you want to insult each others armies a bit more!? I could post tons of links pointing to the poor state of Indias armed forces, but that has led to too many pointless arguments in the past….

The Indian armour consists MAINLY of T-72s and Vijyantas, this is easy meat for AH-1Fs…….

The report of the extra Cobra deliveries is on the FAS site, will post the link, we will have 60 Cobras not

As seahwak pointed out, Cobras will use trees and hills to pop off their TOW rounds before quickly hiding behind cover, much of the dangerous spotting will be done by the Bell 206s

Indian
No offence mate, but this thread is about Pakistani choppers, not Indian EW, lets stick to the topic, diverting the subject has caused the death of too many a good thread on this forum already….

Yes, the India/Pakistan border is huge, but the Indian Army will not be covering it all, all Pakistan will be really worried about is India 3 strike corps , Pakistan can now dedicate 20 Cobras per Indian strike corps, its not much, but its the best anti tank chopper support the Pakistan Army has had

Dont forget, every Pakistan also has a fleet of 20 odd Bell 206’s in a scout configuration that work with the Cobras, there job will be to hunt for Indian armour along the border and spot for the cobras……..these will be the most vunerable to Indian AAA

Vympel
I simply dont agree that in a South Indian scenario upgraded AH-1Fs a obsolete, as discussed earlier, Pakistan is facing the Indian Army, not the Israelis or the Russians…..

Of course Cobras will be vulnerable to Tungstas, they have tactics to counter them, but inevitably we may suffer losses, it all depends if these losses are worth the net gain in armour destroyed and stopping any Indian thrust…..

Well Victor, I am pleased to inform you that a quick google search confirms that Pakistan can provide Indian tankers with a night AND adverse weather TOW delivery service completely free of charge! 🙂

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ah-1f.htm

no Victor, its becuase the Indian Army is not the US Army…..

Pakistans Cobras will be used to back up our armoured corps and facing Indians in T-90S, T-72s and Vijiyantas

Why would Pakistan want to buy Russian attack choppers when

a) We have a pool of trained and experianced AH-1F pilots
b) We are about to receive 40 surplus AH-1Fs to add to the 20 we already have

60 AH-1Fs will do Pakistan VERY nicely thank you very much…..

Originally posted by Arthur
Tu-22M3’s are refuelling-capable. They are all equipped with the retractable KAZ-833 probe in the nose, which occasionally was closed shut because of SALT but in fact could be made operational again at any given time – just like the removal of the probes on the noses of Tu-22s and Tu-22M2’s never meant anything as they could be replaced in half an hour or so. It won’t be a problem for Indian Backfires to be refuelling-capable, if at least the Russians allow them to. Still, with only 6 tankers available i don’t think India has sufficient refuelling capability anyway.

While Matt’s figure on an unrefuelled subsonic range for the M3 of 6800 km is correct, it’s actual combat radius is just some 2200km with a supersonic dash on closing and leaving the target area. Which is hardly more than the M2 could pull off – but then again, you’re talking Globalsecurity data which should never be taken for gospel. The double payload and increased speed are the more obvious advantages of the new engines of the M3 versus the M2.

Garry,

The Tu-16 flew bombing missions over Afghanistan until the very end. Obviously because it was more available (the Backfire was still in production, and still went mostly to more Cold War-focused regiments), but also because the Badger could carry and drop the nicely subtle FAB-9000 bombs to do some landscape restructuring in the Khost area. Backfires were also used, but nowhere near as much as the Badger. Two squadrons (some 20 aircraft) from Poltava were deployed to Mary-2 from December 1987 to January 1989, whereas Badgers were in theatre for most of the war.
ECM coverage for the missions close to Pakistan was not a task of the bombers themselves. For this, Tu-22P’s were deployed. It were these aircraft which reportedly completely blanked out the Pakistani air defence systems, not those of the Backfire itself. THe ECM-gear of the Tu-22M3 isn’t all that spectaculair btw – back then, even some of the Badgers (those with the thick SPS-tails in stead of a gun) had better systems, and could act as a light package jammer for a section of Tu-16s. The Backfire needed a Tu-22P Blinder-E for ECM escort.

Yeah, our air defence systems were so blanked out that we manged to bag 11 plus Sov/Afghan aircraft…..