Posted on 01/23/2018 7:50:51 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
I suspect they had to replace their flightsuits more often!
-PJ
I AM the HOA!......................
Golly, I assume the Cobra had to be modified for seaborne ops too, seeing it started life as an Army platform too...
Not too sure how one jet engine powered rotor craft would fare better than another in similar environments, with proper protections and treatments.
As far as operating in a seaborne condition, I saw lots of AH64s in Panama, Korea, Kuwait and several other near shore situations, so sea air is not an issue. What is? Folding rotor- build a mod .
Bottom line is the USMC doesn’t want (another) Army machine.
The Cobra didn’t take as much to properly navalize - the difference is that the Apache is a heavier, more complex bird than the Viper Cobras, and it contains a lot more electronics that do *not* like salt sea air. It’s not just an issue with the Marines not wanting another Army chopper - foreign users of the Apache wanted to do the same thing and ran into the same problems. It’s why the RAF/RN will not be using their navalized Apache-Ds stationed on ships or amphib assault carriers. They have ordered 50 new Apache-E’s and will be seeing if those will work better.
Well, not an expert, but I do recall several ops where AH64s were floated to the battle and launched off carriers.....
IF the USMC wanted to sea- harden Apaches, they would and could. They did it with Cobras and UH1s etc. The processes of manufacture between airframes is not so different that one is worthless and the other, well, peachy even if it started off as a worthless Army airframe...
Enough though, the USMC is a fine service and I was proud to fight alongside them in multiple occasions.
The problem isn’t that they can’t fly off ships - clearly they can - but that the Apache tends to fall apart if it lives in salty sea air environment for an extended period of time. The British *did* spend the time and money to sea-harden their Apaches and found out the aircraft still didn’t hold up to sea life. Cobras and other UH-1 relatives are still not as complex and the navalization of those aircraft happened long ago; the aircraft are also still a lot simpler. The Cobra, for example, doesn’t have a fly-by-wire flight system, whereas the Apache not only does, it has two.
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