Battle Chopper ● The AH-64 Apache Helicopter vs. Soviet Hind [Full Documentary]

It is neither as elegant as a fighter plane nor as fast as a rocket, and yet it has revolutionized warfare in the 20th century. The attack

helicopter

, a predator of steel from the plains of Europe to the jungles of Southeast Asia, has redefined this terrible bird of prey. the way of combat and turned the

battle

field into a hunting ground his claws are sharp but when he attacks, he attacks to kill January 16, 1991 at dusk in the desert sands along the hills and valleys of southern Iraq A constant thud cuts through the darkening sky, flying low. A formation of AH-64 Apache

helicopter

s with night vision systems activated appears on the ground.

The darkness becomes light. The outlines of the land turn green and the mission begins. These are the first minutes of Operation Desert Storm. The F-117 stealth fighters are next. in technology, but before the

full

air campaign can begin, a hole must be punched in the Iraqi defense, a hole large enough that the wave of sneaks can pass through to create that hole. The critical Iraqi air defense and communication centers must be destroyed, it is a dangerous task and tonight the work belongs to the Apaches, this is not the time to be nervous, everyone's energy must be on the mission.

Do you want to keep your ears open? Do you want to keep your eyes open? and especially as you get closer and closer to enemy territory you really want to focus off the helicopters move into attack formation the weapons officer looks through his night vision the Iraqi ground troops are still about three miles away distance unable to see or hear Apaches hovering no more than 50 feet off the ground helicopters are invisible to radar Iraqis have no idea what is coming next and then the order is given. Fire there guys, 30 millimeter cannons straight into the sand in just 15 minutes.

The attack is over. Not a single Apache has been lost and the Iraqi defenses have been destroyed. Now the stealth fighters are running. hole and the air war begins in earnest and it is all due to the work of the Apache helicopters. They were the unsung heroes of the war with Iraq, they were rarely seen on television, but in fact it was the Apaches who started the war. Apaches who fired the The opening salvo of this high-tech conflict is fast, robust and remarkably agile. The Apache represents a lethal strike force. seventeen thousand pounds of speed and power.

Above all, it is durable. Independent. It does not need a landing strip. Few support facilities. The Apache hunts alone and is singularly good. Equipped for the job, fighter jets fly so fast that they often take only a quick glance at the target. This is not true of the Apaches. These helicopters can stalk their prey, waiting patiently like a tiger for the perfect moment and then leaping forward to launch the attack. It was more than 400 years ago that the helicopter first appeared in Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks, but who could have foreseen its evolution into a high-tech metallic predator?

American helicopters first saw combat in World War II in Korea and were primarily used. As air cargo carriers and ambulances, their role expanded during the next major conflict Vietnam with its thick vegetation and poor roads Vietnam demanded a new approach to transporting troops into combat A new vehicle that would change the face of

battle

The legendary uh -1 huey Like the cavalry of old, the United States Army could move its soldiers quickly over great distances using huey transport, but helicopters were not heavily armored. A huey could be shot down from the sky with just small arms fire, in fact, many were shot down.

I was never able to provide an exact count of exactly how many were lost, so the Army added two door gunners to establish a wall of fire as the hueys arrived to disembark, but that was just the beginning as the war progressed, U.S. was able to turn around. Its whirlwinds went from prey to predator, from transport ship to attack force by adding machine guns and rocket pods to the huey, the US military could stalk the Viet Cong with a potent array of firepower, the country's vegetation provided effective cover against fast jet planes, offered much less protection.

From this new force floating in the sky, in the following years the US would push the helicopter one step further, developing the first helicopter to be used strictly to attack the Cobra Ah-1, armed with a deadly combination of unguided rockets and machine guns that the cobra entered. combat in 1967 quickly became one of the fiercest forces in heaven with the end of the vietnam war in the early 1970s the united states focused once again on the threat posed by the

soviet

union the

soviet

s had amassed a formidable immense war machine and One of the fears that loomed was the possibility of Europe being invaded by Soviet tanks a massive assault by Soviet armored divisions The United States and its NATO allies did not have the tanks it would need to counter this threat an ambush by attack helicopters the tank killers three two with the In addition to guided munitions such as the tow missile, the cobra was now capable of destroying tanks from much further away, but conditions were changing.

While the Cobra was a capable attack helicopter, it lacked the horsepower to carry the

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range of artillery that was being developed and for defense. Surface-to-air missiles became more sophisticated. A helicopter would need the agility to fly at low altitude to avoid them. In the mid-1970s, the Army began a program to develop a replacement for the effective but limited Cobra. It would be different from anything that had ever existed. The Apaches have never been seen before. Their feline agility makes it much more difficult to aim and hit to avoid heat-seeking missiles. The Apaches emit a low heat signal and additional countermeasures have been implemented on the fuselage.

The Alq-144 is located on the fuselage. Disco Ball The Disco Ball sends a powerful infrared signal around the Apache that will confuse heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles for good measure. Flares can be launched from the dispenser on the tail side of the aircraft. Onboard radar jammers and chat dispensers assist the Apache. Avoids the threat of radar-guided missiles. Furthermore, the AH-64's crew compartment is like a steel bowl impenetrable to small arms fire, both for survivability and power. These battle helicopters are equipped with two engines in case one of them is knocked out but defensive abilities are only a last resort as the Apache is designed to attack stealthily.

It is an efficient predator. The Apache will silently move into position and wait, then strike its stunned prey with a sudden attack. Although the Apache sounded good on paper, there was still a major concern. How would it behave under fire? Its first true test would come in the desert sands of the 1991 Gulf War. On February 24, the ground war began when troops from the 101st Airborne Division arrived to launch the initial advance into Iraq, and helicopters were part of the strategy. Roger, I'm speaking one more time please, but first I need a grid. There you have it, yes, to divert the attention of attacking units.

Apache pilots Chief Petty Officers Damon Sanger and Rob Barloon led a crucial decoy mission to ensure the 101st success the plan was planned for. our 2nd 1st Cavalry Armored Division looked as if they were going to attack through the middle, similar to a football play, you fake the middle, everyone leans on the defensive side to block the run and, while doing that, everyone else combined arms. The teams made the final sweep and began maneuvering from their six o'clock position to face us while being fired upon from be

hind

. The Apaches would lead the charge through the middle, spearheading the attack of the second armored vehicle and the first cavalry. divisions all to draw fire from the Iraqis and distract them from the other forces on their flanks it was a dangerous position for the helicopter pilots our mission was to get past the defensive lines that the Iraqi army had established mainly trenches that had oil burning in them and creating choke points so that our tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles couldn't get through in a nice wide area, they go through tight areas and as a choke point it's also an ambush point so our mission was to get through and basically clean. a safe zone for those vehicles to pass through and establish themselves in a defensive criminal on the other side of the defensive belt, the Iraqis, although well entrenched in their position, were strong sanger and barloon expected that all their training in the US would give them allowed them to strike the enemy with complete surprise for months, they have been working on the Apaches' most notable skill: their stealth.

Apaches can sneak up on an opponent by skimming the ground by flying along the ground layer or by flying no more than 20 to 50 feet high. the ground the

apache

s remain well below the range of the enemy radar the

apache

pilots call it masking the helicopters cannot be detected until it is too late in addition to being invisible it is also important not to be heard the oldest hueys and cobras had only two blades which gave them their distinctive sound, but the apache is silent and deadly, it has four rotor blades specially configured to reduce noise, but despite everything, it is silent when sanger and barloon rode the apache into battle that february 24, Luck was against them, they were not in the hills and In the valleys of the US they were in an open desert and it was not long until the Apaches were spotted.

The Iraqis were ready. The enemy at that time had laser rangefinders and they organized us quite accurately for their mortar fire, so they called. their mortars for a large cluster or a large area, but we were all in on it as far as all the planes when we got there, the Iraqis were convinced that this was the big push, so they started feeding everything they had towards ahead, the Apaches met. In the middle of a firefight, the pilots would have to control their planes even under a fierce attack from the Iraqi Republican Guard. Fortunately, they had a key ally, a highly sophisticated device called the i.

It had an integrated helmet and display liner system. It consists of an attached viewing eyepiece. On each helmet, i-hats also help battle helicopter pilots process multiple flight data and targets, no matter where the pilot's head turns, the screen follows the most important thing to sing in that intense moment of battle, the i-hats gave him the ability to aim The 30 millimeter cannon, this helmet is actually part of the aircraft's armament, as the helmet faces right, left, down and up, you can actually use to power the gun mounted under the plane, so it actually comes into view with this, the back seat can use it. your helmet and the weapon for immediate suppression any type of threat appears around the aircraft by connecting the weapon to the system crucial seconds are gained to save lives in the rapid rate of fire of the battle, in addition to the weapon, the ocular hands are also attached to the pilot at night. vision system that houses a sensitive infrared camera is also what we use to fly at night to guide our optics during the night so we can use infrared energy to where we are circling without moonlight is not a problem because we are using infrared But despite all the high-tech equipment that day in the gulf, sanger and barloon soon found themselves in trouble, the desert was exploding around them, the key to survival would be teamwork, it's the backseat who flies the plane, the front seat who aims the weapons the back seat has the immediate mission of security around the helicopter the front seat is looking at a television screen this big he is looking about five kilometers down so all his orientation is looking so far away from the plane so it is really important the back seat pilot is not looking or is looking but is looking in the immediate vicinity to look for that person that a vehicle can drive right next to you and shoot you and not have both pilots oriented five kilometers from where they really are.

As the battle continued in the Gulf, the Apaches came under intense mortar fire and the fate of Sanger Barloon and the entire Apache squadron hanging by a thread in the sands of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq showed no signs of relenting as the Apaches were heading towardsforward. Facing the Republican Guard, the rest of the master plan was working in the east, the Marines were landing on the beaches of Kuwait and in the west, the 101st was leading a successful final run, but in the middle, Sanger Barloon and her group of Apaches. they were facing the fight of their lives we followed mr sanger's team the next day we knew they had become entangled in the fight the night before i heard a loud bang here where the mortar started falling around us and i heard a crash through a The Helicopter is a stressful experience because you are so used to not hearing anything over the noise of the engine, it's all about seeing sand flying and smoke flying and the radio chatter starts to get very intense.

When I turn right, I can feel the buckle of some. from the turbulent air and some sand falling around the plane at that point we knew we were in a death zone and we got quite a beating, you start looking for a place to go because you're sitting in one place for a while so we had to turn and start zigzagging and being unpredictable and reaching an area that wasn't that identifiable but the missiles were already flying, my partner yelled Sam, look for your missile as I looked at my left door, it's already over. At that moment I knew that someone had seen me, someone had fired mortars at me somewhere at the same time I tried to aim their missiles at me and all I failed while Sanger and Barloon drove their helicopters through the heat of the fight against their seats.

Forward the gunners were trying to eliminate dangerous targets on the ground ahead thanks to speed being of the essence the gunners needed to lock on to their targets and fire quickly they resorted to another high-tech support system the target acquisition designation site or a Note that it is a pilot's favorite, the bottom tabs make two loops and help the co-pilot see the guy in the front seat. He uses it as a thermal night vision system, but it also has day vision. They call it a camera on daytime TV and also a laser, so not only can you fly with it on your head.

You watch what's happening outside, you can move like a joystick in a video game and you can approach a target directly, it has several fields of view and you place that target, organize with the target, get a grid location, report that information and use it. It's for aiming, bringing missiles closer to targets or whatever. The dads laser places an electronic dot on the target. The Hellfire missile has a sophisticated homing head that will home in on the reflective energy of the point to devastating effect on that February day, the Apaches. The technological equipment would eventually prove too much for Hussein's Republican Guard.

The helicopters had attacked the Iraqis, but when Sanger and his Apaches headed home they had no idea how many of their team had survived. The company commander came to the rodeo and said who's next. with us, uh, at that time I didn't know how many people were going to register, but as fate would have it, we all registered and, at the end of that day, in the Iraqi desert, sanger barloon and his group had taken over the elite republican guard and They defeated them without a single casualty the Apaches had proven themselves in the fire of combat in the coming days of the desert storm the helicopters would record even more surprising winds as Chief Petty Officer Mark Riddle remembers well that it was a reconnaissance mission and we were returning through an msr.

We had an idea that there was maybe a platoon sized element there when we got there we found a lot of people moving around, understood, we have a lot of guys throwing Ak-47s here and then. They started looking for weapons and then we started about 1500 meters away shooting with a cannon and that made everyone run away and they surrendered shortly after they started taking things out, it was an infantry battalion, ammunition bunkers, vehicles, all the works. we destroy more. of the vehicles and ammunition before the day was over never before had a helicopter taken prisoners during combat I didn't know what to do, well what are we supposed to do with the prisoners?

I mean, our vehicles were still 70 kilometers inside the US blinds in Saudi Arabia, so there was a lot of coordination to try to bring in the black hawks and the division deputies to try to get the prisoners out of The war there was actually a logistical nightmare, although the Apache never intended to capture prisoners of war in any way. Mark Riddle's experience predicted the future of the helicopter in the years after Desert Storm. Commanders discovered they could use attack helicopters for much more than just killing tanks. Apache pilots would have to train for a whole new set of challenges they would face on post. -cold war era since operation desert storm the us military has been involved in peacekeeping operations from haiti to the former yugoslavia there have also been rescue operations in sierra leone and liberia as the military's role has expanded has expanded so has the role of apache captain paulino attending west point during desert storm while a cadet, i would never have imagined the missions i would have to fly as an apache pilot last year i spent a month in laredo, texas and we had 24 Apaches there assisting the border patrol by simply guarding the Rio Grande and looking for illegal traffickers who were crossing the river into Texas.

This operation was officially known as Joint Task Force Six. The Apaches' mission was not to apprehend the suspects, but Captain Eno and his group patrolled the Mexican border using their night vision to keep an eye out for the suspicious roots of drug trafficking and within days their patrol had a significant effect. Apache is a pretty intimidating aircraft and just our presence there I think it stopped them for several days and throughout that month they started to see a lot more buses. In other areas, as drug traffickers moved through different untested routes because we had practically stopped them on the other side of the river, on the other side of the world, the same characteristics of the Apache would prove very useful for peacekeeping operations in the battered country of Bosnia.

Since the Bosnia peace agreement, American peacekeepers have helped maintain the region's delicate balance. It's a far cry from attacking tanks on the battlefield, but in some ways, for Apache pilots, maintenance missions of peace are even more challenging tasks. Today, Apaches fly over the Bosnian countryside riding shotguns for transport helicopters. and reconnaissance work with a new technology known as phototelesis. The photolysis that is developing works very well. It allows an image of the aircraft to be sent digitally by radio to a command and control area for analysis by many other officers who are looking for those types of details, live images that come with the information provided by the Apaches and telesis photographs.

UN forces must be aware of problems in time to take appropriate precautions in a dangerous land. The Apaches must be ready to protect UN peacekeepers if they encounter them. themselves under fire the helicopters are tasked with responding to any threat by mobilizing quickly to provide effective air support in bosnia the pilots have a delicate job every day they must proceed with caution to keep the peace but at any time they must be ready for a rhythm fast all shooting in a high intensity conflict the pilot training takes over working automatically follows a battle plan that aims to find the enemy and destroy him, but peacekeeping missions like the one in bosnia are much more complex flying over urban centers or inspecting the Rural pilots do not have the luxury of being on autopilot because there is no established battle plan, they must constantly weigh, judge and analyze each situation.

One mistake by one person can be enough to break the piece. You can't just fire off a few rounds and then ask questions. now we're on paper, figuring out what we're looking at, what team is out there and who the owner is and whether it's friendly or it's that enemy, the pilots have to make those decisions now it's what you're seeing out there boss. Warrant Officer Barloon arrived in Bosnia during Christmas 1995. His unit was the first group of Apache helicopters in the country and they were responsible for patrolling the area between Muslim and Serbian forces. He had been in wars before, but this was different.

You flew there fully armed. ready to fire at a moment's notice, almost as if you were on a force-on-force mission, except this was a force on a more deterrent mission. The big hammer is introduced to make sure no one wants to fight. If you send in the big street gorilla, everyone recoils a little and that's what this was all about, but the sheer ambiguity of peacekeeping operations created a much scarier environment for Barloon than he had ever anticipated on the first mission. to Bosnia, where You didn't know exactly how comprehensive the ceasefire was between the warring factions.

There you were flying over heavily armed troops who have been experienced combatants for the last four years and who have a significant attitude towards each other and now here we appear, so first. The first flights in Bosnia were very terrifying, so today's Apache pilots find themselves in the middle of these missions, not war, but just as dangerous and, in the meantime, they still have to be training for large-scale combat , prepared for a high intensity fight. you always have to keep that edge for when something comes up, the world is not a nice place, the world is not as peaceful as we would like it to be, so we never know when the next Iraq will appear, so we do it. operations for others in war we always maintain that combat readiness when we are asked again to go out and do our duty and if US forces find themselves in full conflict there is a good chance their enemy has significantly better hardware.

Never before with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting financial crisis in Russia many third world nations have been able to upgrade their military with Russian equipment at bargain prices one of the most dangerous equipment is another attack helicopter which has been covered in The darkness for years is a mysterious machine. The information about it has been carefully guarded. It has only recently come to light, but United States troops must be prepared so that one day they can face it on the battlefield that looms right in front of them. horizon on today's battlefield is an astonishing machine American forces may soon find themselves in their crosshairs in Russia.

His name is Garbach, the hunchback. The West calls him Mi 24 Heim, even after he was first spotted in 1972. The doe was a mystery to Western intelligence. His appearance was fearsome, but no one had any. There is strong evidence about its capabilities, but in recent decades more than 2,100 of these helicopters have been exported to about 30 countries, as it is now sold on the global market. The information on it is finally available and it is scary, it is one of the fastest helicopters in the world, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 210 miles per hour, it has a wingspan almost as large as some jet aircraft and weighs more than 28,000 pounds, one and a half times more than the Apache doe was believed to have.

It was developed in the late 1960s, around the same time the United States introduced the AH1 Cobra into the Vietnam War, but the Soviets took a radically different approach to helicopter design rather than creating a helicopter strictly for attack. The Soviets developed a multi-role machine from the beginning. The Hind could do many things. It had the ability to both send troops to the battlefield and protect them with its enormous supply of weapons. The Hind carried an arsenal larger than any other attack helicopter. It could even drop bombs to this day it remains the only helicopter that does so, although both the Hind and the Apache are battle helicopters, their different physical characteristics have led to a fundamental difference, a difference in the way they fight, The Hindu first went to war in 1981, in the Soviet battle with Afghanistan at the beginning of the war.

The rear pilots attempted to attack the mujahideen troops with a low, stealthy approach from the ground, but the rear pilots proved to be too heavy and not maneuverable enough to attack like an Apache in Afghanistan. The rear pilots were crashing to the ground as they tried to crawl across the battlefield. They realized that this machine handles more like a fixed-wing airplane than a helicopter, so they learned to use other features to their advantage, such as speed and size, unlike its American counterpart,The doe has to move fast to kill between 100 and 150 miles per hour. When the rear part attacks its pilots are not interested in masking with their speed its frightening appearance, its wicked sound and its devastating load of weapons.

The rear part is based on the Intimidation rather than stealth at the end of the war with Afghanistan was the only machine that the mujahideen feared most, they called it the devil's chariot. The doe turned out to be one of the Soviets' few successes in Afghanistan. It's a machine that American forces have been preparing to confront for some time. In fact, it was rumored that versions of the doe were developed to destroy. American attack helicopters First Cavalry troops take this rumor seriously and as they prepare to relieve current peacekeepers in the Balkans the issue is more than academic in this area there is always the possibility that American troops will have to confront the ruthless Hive, but now, for the first time, the Cav pilots will have a new weapon in their hands.

A new version of Apache. It may well be the most advanced battle helicopter ever designed in the years following the Apache's success in Operation Desert Storm. This fearsome helicopter. Transformed into an even more effective battle helicopter, the AH-64 Delta Apache Longbow has been rebuilt from older airframes and remodeled as the attack helicopter for the 21st century, a worthy adversary for the heights. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the longbow and the older Apache model, but appearances can be deceiving in the case of Apaches. It's what's under the skin that counts. This is a digital helicopter, a high-tech electronic predator, the frame is wider to contain larger amounts of wiring and equipment.

The cockpit of this new Apache has also been completely digitized, crew members will now receive their information via two multi-function displays called MFDs in place of the older analog gauges and the longbow will carry an updated set of weapons better suited to the fast-paced digital pace. Battlefield The new longbow also has room to add Stinger missile pods that can be attached to the side of its wings to fire on threats from the air. The best defense is still an effective offense. Tomorrow's battles will likely be fought at a faster pace than the battles of Desert Storm with improvements in technology equipment will move faster information will travel faster and weapons will fire faster than ever before the development of the longbow It's an attempt to stay ahead of this trend, but the pilots who fly these high-tech machines must now endure a tremendous load on a digital battlefield.

Flying is just a small part of being an Apache pilot; In fact, most crews now feel that flying is the easy part. It's amazing how much information the pilot has to be able to manage that information. able to examine it and report what he considers important because, you see, in the longbow cockpit you have a couple of multifunction display buttons around it and you have to be a great system administrator and you have to be a good pilot the pilots Apaches must be able to reach their targets quickly despite information overload, but there is one feature that helps ease the strain.

The feature that pilots consider the biggest improvement in the new Apache. The fire control radar is probably the biggest difference. obvious between model alpha apache and now the new long arc is a radar radome, the radar radome is mounted on the top of the mast and allows the aircraft to remain below the tree line and hide the body of the aircraft while the Radar is located above this fire control radar. cupola over the long arc rotor blades have radically improved the Apache's capabilities. Each dome costs 3 million dollars. The Apache can scan 360 degrees for air threats and ground targets.

It can scan 270 degrees day or night in any weather. Within a longbow battalion of 24 no more than eight people. carry these expensive radomes, but that's all they'll need with a single sweep, it can identify 256 targets in a matter of seconds and transmit that information to the pilots and the aircraft, and they have the ability to send that information to the rear or to other planes. In your flight and in US Army units, not all aircraft will be equipped with a radar dome, but they all have the same capabilities, so if a radar dome aircraft is capable of detecting a lot of targets, will date an explosion on the other. aircraft and may begin to serve those targets as Apache capabilities continue to expand and global politics continue to change Army battle helicopters will play a larger and even more important role on the battlefield of the future the fact that we will no longer go out and launch a deep attack be

hind

the independent tank battalion, as we used to train to fight the Soviet forces in the full breach scenario, now there are many security operations, we are doing many reconnaissance missions in which In the past we were pretty much dedicated to big anti-armor fighting, so we're transitioning to being able to fight anti-armor fighting one day and then the next day, detecting the movement of a ground brigade in a hostile area.

Of course, even with the changes Apache pilots face, they are clear about where the real priority lies. Our real mission is always force on force, your night attack stealth aircraft, that's primarily what it's designed for and that's primarily how it fits into the combat plan. As they prepare for the conflicts of tomorrow, longbow pilots have studied the battles Sanger and Barloon faced in Desert Storm and learned some important lessons for years to come. They intend to approach the battlefield differently. The objective is to shoot an enemy without even being detected. the way helicopter pilots are training now to capitalize on the longbow's stealth and long-range power this is what a future confrontation could look like looming below the tree line the longbow with the dome swinging just enough high enough to paint Apache targets The dome longbow shares its target information with other Apaches as they approach a better firing position.

They are stationed under the trees, out of sight of the enemy and then the Apaches will unleash their deadly Hellfire missiles. A longbow can now do the job of a model apache before the apache gunner had to keep the laser kill point on the target until it was destroyed, which meant remaining exposed until the explosion today hellfire It is guided by radar the pilots can fire and move on and with the longbow they can fire again and again up to 16 Hellfire missiles sent in a matter of seconds, all against different targets. Nowadays, it only takes a handful of Apache longbows to take out an entire armored brigade in a few minutes.

The longbow is quickly becoming one of the deadliest forces on the battlefield. Its namesake is giving the military the ability to strike faster, with greater precision from further away, once again a battle helicopter may change the way the military goes to war or helicopters rarely engage in combat. , even adversaries like the butt and the longbow. Its true prey will always inhabit the ground and there, among the treetops, the attack helicopter has added a cruel element to ground warfare, fast mobile and heavily armed, it can defeat any armored unit it encounters, making it into the most powerful and versatile weapon in a ground commander's army.

Hands loaded with the latest in digital technology. The battle helicopter will remain an important force well into the 21st century. Stalking the battlefield of the future. A bird of prey with steel claws.