"AH-64 Apache" - the helicopter of the newest generation

Helicopter "Apache AH-64" was created to combatground targets. His predecessor, AH-1 Cobra, proved during the Vietnam War that the American army needs machines capable of hunting for a secret enemy in difficult conditions and with active air defense. The main requirements for the new attack helicopter were powerful weapons, high survivability, the possibility of high-speed flight at low altitudes and a large degree of fire control automation. Flight characteristics were listed separately.

In the preliminary competition for the statein a row, aircraft manufacturers Hughes and Bell won, giving samples that most satisfied the requests of the military department. However, Bell dropped out of the second round due to the fact that conceptually his helicopter was a modernized "Cobra", and the Pentagon needed a completely new car.

By the end of 1976, Hughes was commissionedconstruction of a new attack helicopter for the US Army, and work began on the development of the project. They lasted long, five years, and were crowned with success. The new machine was approved by military pilots, and in 1093 began to enter the armament under the name "Apache". The helicopter is being built in Arizona, on specially constructed production sites for this purpose.

The McDonnel-Douglas firm, famous for itsPhantom, in the course of the reorganization, Hughes bought together with her orders and production, and since 1984 has continued to build Apache under its brand. The helicopter was ordered for both the army and the National Guard of the United States. Over the next ten years, more than eight hundred cars were built with an average cost of fourteen and a half million for each.

In the process of development work a lot of measures have been taken to protect "Apache". The helicopter is arranged very rationally, which makes it difficult to detect and defeat.

Cooling of two interchangeable gas turbine engines XT-700 is organized so that in flight to minimize the heat trail, for which there is a mixture of exhaust with ambient air.

Noise reduction is achieved through the use of a cruciform steering screw equipped with blades located at different angles, so as to dissipate the sound waves produced by the engine.

Reservation of the pilot cabin and the main ones is vitalimportant nodes makes it very problematic to disable it, and even more so the destruction by fire means of caliber up to 30 mm. The survivability resource allows you to get to your base with one idle engine.

In turn, the complex of airborne weapons provides for various versions of external suspensions, as well as a turret cannon.

Variety and avionics, which is equipped with "Apache". Helicopter "sees" in the dark due to the thermal imager and laser rangefinder, he himself can cause radio interference and shoot infrared cartridges. The radar placed above the main rotor hub accompanies more than two and a half hundred targets simultaneously, notifies about the operation of the enemy air defenses, detects and classifies fixed objects.

In addition to the US Army, the operators of thismachines have become the armed forces of many countries. Since 1991, there has been virtually no armed conflict involving the United States, in which Apache has not been involved. The helicopter proved to be very good, and the revealed shortcomings served as an excuse for finalizing and improving the design.