To date, the United States of America is the absolute leader in the number of helicopters produced. During the years of the Cold War, the transatlantic power yielded the palm to the Soviet Union. In many ways, it was the success of the Mi-24 that made the Americans think about creating a new generation attack helicopter. So the McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache was born back in 1975.
By 1975, the Americans had already accumulated considerable experience in the use of attack helicopters. At the same time, the next Arab-Israeli war of 1973, known as the "Doomsday War", had a great influence on the thoughts of the military and designers regarding screw machines. Then it finally became clear to the Americans that the new attack helicopter should be primarily anti-tank. However, already in the course of developing a new machine, it became clear that a modern helicopter should be as versatile as possible to perform the widest range of tactical tasks.
The McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache was adopted in 1984. Since then, the car has been upgraded several times. The helicopter's baptism of fire took place during the American invasion of Panama in 1989. True, the participation of the Apaches turned out to be actually symbolic. In all its glory, the helicopter was able to turn around during the war in Iraq in 1991. During Desert Storm, helicopters made 652 sorties. During the offensive on February 24, the Americans knocked out 278 tanks. It is generally accepted that all of them were destroyed by helicopters, but most likely some of the tanks were destroyed by ground forces. At the same time, during the operation, the United States lost only 3 newest vehicles.
One Apache helicopter costs $61 million. At the time of 2020, 1,650 of these machines were produced in the USA. The crew consists of two people: a pilot and a gunner. The helicopter is driven by a pair of General Electric T700-GE-701 units with a capacity of 1,690 hp each. The maximum takeoff weight is 10,433 kg. The maximum speed is 293 km / h. The maximum combat sortie range is 480 km. The armament of the helicopter consists of a 30mm M230 automatic cannon and four wing mounts, which can be mounted on a variety of air-to-surface missiles.
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To say that the AH-64 Apache is the best machine in its class can be quite difficult. In the bottom line, this is not the fastest, not the most armed and not the most tenacious helicopter. Although in all these parameters, American development is in very high positions. With full confidence, we can say that in terms of the totality of characteristics and factors, as well as taking into account the existing combat experience, the Apache is one of the best combat vehicles of our time.
In continuation of the topic, read about why our helicopters have wheels, while the American ones have skids.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/190921/60595/
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