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The AH-64A/D Apache and AH-64E Block III Apache Longbow (renamed Guardian) are four-blade twin-engine attack helicopters manufactured by Boeing. The Apache was originally developed by Hughes Helicopters in the 1970s (first flight on September 30, 1975), however, the company was acquired by McDonnell Douglas in 1984. In 1997, McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing. The latest variant, the AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopter (originally designated AH-64D Block III), is powered by two General Electric T700-GE-701D turboshaft engines with 1,994 shp each. The AH-64D/E models are based on the original AH-64A, which was deployed in 1984 and first used in combat in 1989...

Projected foreign military sales of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters in conjunction with planned domestic buys are expected to keep the airplanes in production for decades, said Boeing and Army officials. "It’s easily safe to say that the Apache is going to be flying well into the 2060 timeframe," when you consider both domestic and international demand for the new E-model, said Mark Ballew, Boeing's head of business development for attack helicopters. According to Kim Smith, Boeing's vice president of attack helicopters, the company has delivered 217 Echo models and 87 of those have gone to...

The British Army’s need for a future attack helicopter weapon system has led MBDA to begin promoting a potential candidate derived from its 50kg (110lb) Brimstone air-to-surface missile. Craig Hoyle/MBDA Displayed for the first time at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London, the concept builds on the existing dual-mode Brimstone, which is currently being used by the Royal Air Force’s Panavia Tornado GR4s to attack Islamic State targets in Iraq. An image of a potential combination shows a Boeing AH-64E Apache carrying a maximum load of 16 of the precision-strike weapons. Currently equipped with a dual-mode...

Brutal, but true, the little-known account of the U.S. Army paying for beheadings during the ferocious Apache Wars.

The federal government passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. It was authored by Chuck Schumer, passed with nearly unanimous support from both parties, and signed by President Bill Clinton. The legislation was needed after a bad Supreme Court ruling delivered by Antonin Scalia that limited religious freedom for Native Americans who smoke peyote as part of their religion. A later Supreme Court ruling ruled that the RFRA didn’t apply to state or local governments. Twenty states passed RFRAs and another 13 have protections like the ones in RFRA. And yet when Indiana passed the legislation last week,...

A site on Apache Mountain, where Apache warriors plunged to their deaths to avoid the U.S. cavalry, may soon overlook a copper mine. Archaeologists and Native American tribes are protesting language in a Senate bill that would approve a controversial land exchange between the federal government and a copper mining company -- a swap that may put Native American archaeological sites at risk. The bill is needed to fund the U.S. military and is considered likely to pass the Senate as early as today. The company Resolution Copper Mining hopes to exploit rich copper deposits beneath 980 hectares of Arizona's...

The U.S. Army is engineering its Apache AH-64 attack helicopters with additional avionics, radar and sensor technology to perform better in maritime environments, service officials said Monday at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington D.C. “We’re looking at sensor upgrades to the fire control radar and adding a maritime feature to the Apache. We want to extend the radar and broaden its bandwidth to pick up things in a littoral (shallow water) environment and detect small ships in the water,” said Army Col. Jeff Hager, Apache program manager. The Army plans to test...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has begun using Apache AH-64 attack helicopters to strike at ISIS targets inside Iraq, the first time the aircraft have been used for offensive strikes since arriving in Baghdad in early July. Their use opens up a new capability in the airstrike campaign against ISIS in Iraq, but one that also comes with risks, as they could be vulnerable to ground fire. A defense official confirms that Apache helicopters were used this weekend as part of four airstrikes on a large ISIS force northeast of Fallujah. The attack was conducted in coordination with Air Force fighter...

NEW DELHI: India has offered to significantly increase an order for US attack helicopters, Indian officials said, as US defense secretary Chuck Hagel began a visit to New Delhi on Thursday aimed at boosting defence and strategic ties. The Apache gunships and a deal for Chinook helicopters, both built by Boeing, will top the agenda in Hagel's talks on Friday with India's new administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India has offered a follow-on order of 39 AH-64D Apache helicopters in addition to the 22 now being negotiated, an Indian defence ministry official said. The sides have been wrangling...

Qatar, the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter, is using its gas money to cash in on some top-of-the-line U.S. supplied military hardware. Qatar’s defense minister, Hamad Bin Ali al-Attiyah, met with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and signed acceptance letters for $11 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missile defense batteries and anti-tank Javelin missiles, the Pentagon said in a statement Monday. “Today’s signing ceremony underscores the strong partnership between the United States and Qatar in the area of security and defense and will help improve our bilateral cooperation across a range of military operations,” said Rear Adm....

Political Correctness: Despite the latest example of word-use insanity, naming a helicopter after the Indian nation that handed the U.S. Army one of its most ignominious defeats is a sign of respect, not racism. In 2012, military blogger Crispin Burke reports, American Indian leaders were on hand to bless two brand-new UH-72 Lakota helicopters, named after the Lakota Sioux, the tribe that gave Col. George Custer a final exam on the proper use of light cavalry in combat at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The two choppers, christened Eagle and Turtle for prominent Indian symbols, have honor feathers...

The government has approved the raising of three squadrons of the iconic American-made Apache attack helicopters for the Indian Army. This marks a big win for the Army in its epic war with the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the control of helicopter gunships. "The Army will get 39 Apache attack helicopters at an estimated cost of over $2.5 billion after the first tranche of 22 of these gunships, currently being negotiated with the US, is delivered to the IAF," disclosed an exultant officer at Army Headquarters. All future acquisitions of attack helicopters will thereafter be for the Army, an...

A U.S. senator is blocking the delivery of 10 U.S. Apache attack helicopters urgently sought by the Egyptian government since last spring to battle al Qaeda terrorists in the Sinai peninsula. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) has prevented all U.S. military assistance to the Egyptians, asserting the Egyptian government had violated human rights in ousting the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime. Leahy imposed the hold on the aircraft five days after the Pentagon announced the helicopters were urgently needed to fight terrorism and would be delivered. White House and State Department officials said this week they are working with Congress to...

Nearly 300 years ago, two great alliances collided on the Great Plains in a battle that changed the course of American history. But until now, no physical evidence of the storied conflict had ever been found. In the summer of 1720, where the Platte River meets the Loup in eastern Nebraska, Spanish soldiers, New Mexican settlers and their Pueblo and Apache allies clashed with warriors from the Pawnee and Oto nations of the Plains. In a daybreak raid, the Pawnee and the Oto — possibly with the support of French traders — routed the Spanish, killing their commander, Don Pedro...

The Obama administration has turned down an urgent appeal from Egypt’s government for the delivery of U.S. Apache attack helicopters needed for counterterrorism operations in the Sinai Peninsula. U.S. officials and a Western diplomat said the 10 AH-64 attack helicopters had been blocked from delivery in October in response to the administration’s opposition to the military ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammad Morsi last year. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo within the past several weeks relayed the Egyptian government’s appeal to send the new Apaches in a cable to the State Department. According to U.S. officials, the Egyptians said the...

CSO - Apache servers are being ambushed by a particularly pernicious malware program called Linux/Cdorked.A that's infecting visitors to the sick machines with the Blackhole malware kit. Discovered by security researchers at Sucuri and Eset, they describe the malware a a sophisticated and stealthy backdoor meant to drive traffic to malicious websites. Eset explained in a blog post that the malware is one of the most sophisticated Apache backdoors it has seen so far. So far, hundreds of servers have been compromised, it said. The backdoor leaves no traces of compromised hosts on the hard drive other than a modified...

NEW DELHI: India is getting ready to order 22 heavy-duty Apache helicopters for around $1.4 billion, in what will be yet another big defence deal to be bagged by the US. The US has already made military sales worth over $8 billion to India over the last few years, despite it having lost out to France in the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to supply 126 fighters to IAF, which is in the final commercial negotiations stage. In the battle for the attack helicopters, Boeing's AH-64D Apache Longbow met all ASQRs (air staff qualitative requirements) during...

Qatar to Purchase 24 AH-64D Block III Longbow Attack Helicopters in Possible $3 Billion Deal 16:18 GMT, July 16, 2012 WASHINGTON | The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified U.S. Congress July 10 of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Government of Qatar for 24 AH-64D APACHE Block III LONGBOW Attack Helicopters and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $3.0 billion. The Government of Qatar has requested a possible sale of 24 AH-64D APACHE Block III LONGBOW Attack Helicopters, 56 T700-GE-701D Engines, 27 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight, 27 AN/AAR-11...

"Nice" video at link "Oh by golly, Achmed, By the grace of Allah, I'm sure that is not the hot wire.. Just connect it right here. See. it's ju............."

Or, learn to code the next Facebookâ„¢ in your spare time. Really for true about the Facebookâ„¢ part. It was initially written using this technology so that should give you some idea what is possible if you master this idiom. Admittedly, it doesn't scale to 800 million users, but it is pretty serviceable for most people and it's free. Learning to program earns you power. Steadily all of the machines around us are morphing into computers surrounded by hardware that mediates the processor's interaction with the physical world. To change the behavior of any given machine all you need...