UK Apaches - 'Give us an enemy to fight'

[Oddball]

Give us an enemy to fight, says chief of Britain's Apache helicopter fleet
By Sean Rayment
(Filed: 12/06/2005)

It is the most lethal battle-field killing machine ever devised. Weighing 10 tons and bristling with awesome weaponry, the Apache attack helicopter will revolutionise the way that battles are fought by the British Army.

Flying at just 200ft and with a top speed of 140 knots, its mission is to scour the battlefield hunting for enemy tanks, bunkers and armoured vehicles and then destroy them.


Its eight Hellfire missiles can penetrate the armour of any tank and its 76 Flechette rockets, each filled with 80 five-inch tungsten darts, can lay waste to large numbers of enemy infantry.

For added punch, the "chin-mounted" 30mm cannon - which automatically swivels to where the pilot is looking - can fire more than 600 exploding armour-piercing rounds a minute; and its rotor blades are driven by two Rolls Royce engines with the same power as a Formula One car.

Link (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=JJ5QZTIKAIZNDQFIQMFCM54AVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/06/12/napac12.xml)

[Little J]

Formula One cars have 2,300hp engines?

[oldsoak]

Nice gear - should have had it up and running years ago in time for Afghanistan, GWII etc etc , but no, we dropped the ball in front of goal again. Bah, hurrumph.....

[DeltaWhisky58]

Formula One cars have 2,300hp engines?

So?

[fantassin]

can fire more than 600 exploding armour-piercing rounds a minute;

But is normally only fed with 90 rounds because it's so ****e to jamming ...

p-)

[Harrelson]

it was wrong to quote its power with an f1 car. firstly an f1 car has 900bhp and weighs 600kilos

[sergey31]

can fire more than 600 exploding armour-piercing rounds a minute;

But is normally only fed with 90 rounds because it's so ****e to jamming ...

p-)

Because it was not designed with sand flying trough the air in mind and with all of the cannon exposed like that.
For being such an expecive chopper, the cannon part looks like it was ad-on.
I can easily see why would it jam in sand rich environment.
http://www.military.cz/usa/air/in_service/helicopters/ah64/m320cannon.jpg

[Michael RVR]

Would the rotor wash not push the sand away from the cannon ?

[gc]

Can't wait for it's combat debut, especially with the elite Paras and RM Commandos

[sergey31]

Would the rotor wash not push the sand away from the cannon ?

Not really....When taking off or landing, the rotors push air into the ground and make all the dust and sand rise up and hit the chopper from the bottom....mini sandstorm.

[Para]

No they can't take those helicopters out into a battlefield they would get all dirty.

[BTR-80]

I thought UK going to get EuroTiger? Since they r getting Eurofighter? :D

[Stolly]

Anyone remember that Apache pic that went around the Internet in 2001 ? The one with an Apache in the year view mirror of a taliban pickup ? "if you can see this in your rearview mirror you are f****d"

I was driving past their base in the UK last year and there was this huge commotion behind me, i look in my mirror and there he was, flying past me at around 70 feet. Did know wether to cheer or surrender :lol:

[DeltaWhisky58]

I thought UK going to get EuroTiger? Since they r getting Eurofighter? :D

The word "Euro" has nothing to do with the manufacturing consortia making either aircraft. Britain bought into the Apache project whilst the others went down the Tiger route. The Typhoon/Eurofighter project is entirely different.

[Rakki]

Only about what, 30 years after the Americans first go the thing?

[oldsoak]

Its a question of doctrine. The British up until GW1 had a very much a "let the b*ggers come to us" doctrine. A lot of this came from WWII experience trying to take on well positioned Tiger tanks. Also, its entirely understandable considering the size of the UK forces - we had to put money where it was best suited - a gunship was too dedicated and expensive a tool for us, - which is why we stuck TOW on Lynx and Gazelle and hoped they could do the same job.. Besides the idea of busting tanks by a helicopter was felt to threaten the role of the tankies . Along comes GW1 and we all went aaahhhh - the gunship doesnt threaten the tankies after all, so we'll buy a few. Plus the RAF didnt like the idea of there being an AAC at all....so yes, we're a little late to the game.

[Stolly]

Only about what, 30 years after the Americans first go the thing?

OMG THE F-16, F15,M1, M16 AND NIMTIZ CLASS CVN ARE ALSO WORTHLESS !!!one11!!!!

[SerbPVO]

Hmmm...maybe you could send them to Serbia?;)
We could always use a little target practice ...

[b33f]

Hmmm...maybe you could send them to Serbia?;)
They could always use a little target practice ...
Corrected it for you.



Only about what, 30 years after the Americans first go the thing?

OMG THE F-16, F15,M1, M16 AND NIMTIZ CLASS CVN ARE ALSO WORTHLESS !!!one11!!!!
Could you explain to me what you tried to express with that post?

[Lokos]

I'll do it for him:

If the Apache is worthless, then so are America's other 30-year old designs still in service. Therefore, the other poster, who surely didn't want to insinuate that, is shown to be a little misguided.

Lokos

[Lokos]

Corrected it for you.

You're right, they could. After all, they missed me last time around. Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!

p-)

Lokos

[sp2c]

that's just because they weren't operational at the time woot

[Lokos]

Shush, man. You're giving them ideas.

Lokos

[SerbPVO]

OLE!

http://www.aeronautics.ru/a/apache06.jpg

http://www.aircav.com/kosovo/ah64crash/ah64crash02.jpg

[Lokos]

What a waste...

Lokos

[Wolf]

@SerbPVO

Are you talking about the two Apache's that came down in the Kosovo campaign? Because those helicopters came down when they hit power lines nothing to do with any enemy fire.