Posted on 12/17/2010 9:41:15 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Apaches may come and Apaches my go but the Cobra will always be with us.
The Marines are amazing at just how much life they get out of equipment (probably because they’re always underfunded). I swear you could send an MEU ashore with Sopwith Camels, 1903 Springfields, and Krag-Jorgensens, and they’d still kick every ass in sight.
I always wonder if the engineers who design things like the original Huey and Cobra ever imagined “their” designs would still be in active service long after they retired?
}:-)4
So the new Cobra, I mean Viper, is more like the Apache?
Probably requires less maintainence time per flight hour though.
Couldn’t just buy Apache’s??
Nasty looking critter!
Imagine that, it closely resembles the Cobra. They are going back to the thinner, longer design, which makes for a much better gunning platform.
I used to marvel in awe at what the Cobra’s were able to do, in terms of striking outright panic and fear in the enemy when ever they showed up for duty. Just one could turn a 40 acre area of jungle, into a biological desert in mere seconds.
ping
Adapt-Improvise-Overcome...Ooooorah!
Cobras are cheaper to buy and cheaper to maintain and you can fit twice as many of them on a ship. The Apache is designed as a long-range tank killer. It is excellent at that. The Marines however use helos for Close Air Support. For the USMC mission the Cobras are a better choice. Plus the new one carries as much ordnance. On top of that there is parts commonality between the Cobras and the UH-1s the USMC uses for carrying troops. This means more bang for the buck and the USMC doesn’t have the money to throwaway like the Army does.
but can the new helicopters still be brought down by a rifle?
Any aircraft can be brought down by a rifle.
Still, one badass helo...
Inn the early 80's I qualified with a Viet Nam era M-16A1 and a WWII vintage 1911.
I swear you could send an MEU ashore with Sopwith Camels, 1903 Springfields, and Krag-Jorgensens, and they’d still kick every ass in sight.
Damn straight. Semper Fi.
Just a fattened-up Cobra.
I wonder how it would do hunting elk.
I remember very well when our first Cobras showed up in spring of 1968. I never got a chance to work on one before I rotated home. It’s hard to believe how that beast has evolved over 40+ years. We have certainly gotten our money’s worth out of that design.
I was issued an ancient .45 in Vietnam that was stamped “1899.” It would rattle when I walked. I've never seen another one since.
My guess is, they can pack more AH-1Zs onto a ship than they could AH-64Ds, plus I expect the Cobras are built to work in a salty marine environment (pardon the pun) and Apaches probably aren’t. Combine that with the parts commonality with the new Hueys allowing them to carry fewer types of spares, and it makes sense.
}:-)4
I hear the Apache has a lot of down time. especially in the desert.
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