AH 1Z Viper vs AH-64 D Longbow. Which is more prestigious?
Only kidding with the prestige part, but what do you guys think about these two mean machines?
One one corner we have the tank killing AH-64 D Longbow Apache from the U.S. Army...highly technically advanced and expensive like the Army. Not designed for close air support, but performed well in a close air support roe in OEF and OIF. No air to air weapons.
http://apachehelicopter.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/AH-64-Apache-lon…
On the other corner, we have the 21st century version of the legendary Cobra, the AH-1Z "Viper" Zulu-Cobra. Lean and mean like the branch it serves, designed for close air support...not really proven itself yet.
http://dmn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AH-1Z-Vip…
So what do you guys think? And how do you embed those pictures.
On a side note, I feel like I am to the military (mil aviation specifically) what to Brady is to B-School (HBS specifically)...always dreaming about how awesome it would be to fly one of those things, but I wonder if I will ever achieve my dreams.
Let me e-mail my friend who happens to be in mil aviation about how awesome it is. Will post his reply soon.
SB if I had credits. Please post the reply soon or make up one.
As prior service I can safely say that no one really cares.
as an Army vet (not a pilot), i can give you some hopefully useful perspective.
both choppers were designed for CAS, and both can carry sidewinder, sidearm, mistral, or stinger air-to-air missiles though you'll never see them in those configurations as there are currently no air threats in the theaters we are operating in. AH-1Z is an evolutionary update of a Vietnam era design (original AH-1 HueyCobra). it was designed for close air support since Army was not satisfied with converting troop carrying UH-1 Hueys to the gunship role. it had a leaner tandem seating profile (ideally less vulnerable to flak when facing the enemy head on) but some of old gunship pilots still preferred having 2 side by side pilots in the Huey-converted gunships. Once the AH-1 came into being, it became en vogue to have dedicated attack helo designs using tandem seating arrangement between a pilot and a copilot/gunner, and this style really influenced subsequent attack helo designs. Various updates occurred throughout the 70s and 80s until the Army decided to go with a brand new design in the AH-64 during the 1970s/1980s. Marines, perennially lacking funds, had to make do with the older AH-1s (there were ideas of adopting the AH-64 for naval use but ultimately abandoned) and it took them until the late 1990s to 2000s to get the funding to get an upgraded AH-1 (Z version) that was on par with the Army's AH-64. Capability wise they are similar in payload carrying capacity (4 underwing stations for air to ground ordnance plus 2 wingtip stations for air to air armaments), but all Apaches carry a 30 mm cannon while all Cobras carry a 3-barrel 20mm gatling gun with a smaller ammo load. As of right now, the AH-64D Longbow version is superior to the AH-1Z in terms of radar, having a much bigger radar mounted on top of the rotors than a pod or wingtip radar for the Zulu. there are plans to develop a Longbow radar for the Zulu, but we'll see if it survives budget cuts.
they are both great choppers to have in a firefight. The Zulu is basically a new chopper based on the old 1960s HueyCobra/Cobra design that may still have some kinks being worked out. The Apaches are a newer design from the 1970s/1980s and may have more room for growth in the future. by modern military aviation standards, they are both "old" and have been slated for replacement, but with the end of the Cold War and lack of funding for big ticket items, they keep getting refurbished and updated.
^^^The Commance. They cut it.
This is actually right in my wheelhouse. I'm a former AH-1W plane captain (that's not a pilot, that's the mechanical expert on the plane), and the 101st Airborne just happened to share some hangar space with us for about 5 months in 1990 so I got to know the Apaches pretty well too.
It's really kind of an unfair comparison. There are maybe a couple of tactical situations where I would choose a Cobra over an Apache, but the vast majority of combat situations would find the Apache the better option. Now, I don't know about the new Z-models, but it's still hard for me to imagine a Cobra outstripping an Apache for payload, power, etc...
I actually got to fly a Cobra a couple times when I was on test skins. After the plane would have major maintenance done (engine swaps or something big like that) they would send a pilot up with a plane captain in the front seat (presumably so they'd only lose 1 pilot if the plane crashed because the maintenance wasn't done right). Every so often the pilot would say, "Why don't you take it for a few minutes". I'm not gonna lie, it's a pretty big rush.
get real wars are one with submarines, not many countries can stop a guided missile subs, at night
won*
Everyone realises that the Marine Corps uses the Cobra just so it seems different from the Army? If it, just as it did during the Second World War, used all the Army's equipment, any cut in the US Army would be received at a proportional or disproportional level to the earlier.
In effect, it's like the difference between an independent and contingent asset.
Go USMC
I raise you this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II
http://badassoftheweek.com/warthog.html
[quote=Unforseen]I raise you this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II
http://badassoftheweek.com/warthog.html[/quote]
One fugly sonofabitch.
The only thing the Marine Corps has that somewhat compares is the OV-10, but it's only got a 20mm nose gun (I think. This is going back a LONG way).
I'm sure that in funerals of Iraqi insurgents there was always a mention of how good looking the helicopter/airplane that blew young ahmed's face was.
Lean and mean like the branch it serves. Lol on several levels.
Pussies fly into combat. I walked.
Epic. +1
hahaha spoken like a true grunt
My first thought when I saw this post was, "I wonder how many responses before some mentions the A-10?" WSO never disappoints, lol.
Happy, I would recommend catching a ride next time. The C-130 was a bit bumpy coming into Baghdad, but it was better than the mother of all road trips that was the convoy out of Kuwait. I was never so happy that I volunteered for something while I was in the Army...except for flying back to the states in first class because I volunteered to load a all of the returning soliders' duffel bags into a transport truck. That was the best decision ever.
Regards
I've spent my fair share of time in things that leave the ground. I was just being a dick.
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