Nearly three decades later, the Apache’s status as the world’s premier attack helicopter remains largely unchallenged. Here’s What You Need to Remember: The latest AH-64E Guardian model boasts uprated engines, remote drone-control capabilities, and a sensors designed to highlight muzzle flashes on the battlefield below. The Army has also experimentally deployed Apaches on U.S. Navy ships and had them practice anti-ship missions, and even tested a laser-armed Apache.

Early in the morning of January 17, 1991, eight sleek helicopters bristling with missiles swooped low over the sands of the An Nafud desert in as they soared towards the border separating Saudi Arabia from Iraq. At 2:30 a.m., the choppers fanned out and set to work in teams of two. Rocket motors flashed as Hellfire missiles streaked towards two Iraqi radars powerful enough to potentially pick up the faint signature of a stealth plane.

The AH-64 Apache is widely regarded as one of the world’s best attack helicopters due to several factors:

1. Firepower: The Apache is equipped with a formidable array of weapons, including a 30mm chain gun, Hellfire anti-tank missiles, and a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground rockets. This extensive firepower enables the Apache to engage a wide range of targets effectively.
2. Survivability: The Apache is designed with advanced survivability features such as low radar signature, armor protection, and redundant systems. It has the ability to operate in high-threat environments and withstand enemy fire, increasing the chances of mission success and crew survival.
3. Targeting and Sensor Systems: The Apache features advanced targeting systems, including the Longbow Fire Control Radar and advanced electro-optical/infrared sensors. These systems enable precise target acquisition, tracking, and engagement, even in adverse weather conditions or at night.
4. Agility and Maneuverability: The Apache is highly maneuverable, allowing it to operate in complex and challenging environments. It has the capability to perform tight turns, low-level flying, and rapid changes in direction, enhancing its effectiveness in combat scenarios.
5. Network Integration: Modern variants of the Apache, such as the AH-64E Apache Guardian, are designed to operate as part of a network-centric system. They can exchange information with other aircraft, ground forces, and command centers, enhancing situational awareness and enabling coordinated operations.
6. Combat Experience: The Apache has a proven track record in combat operations, having been utilized in various conflicts worldwide. Its performance in operations has demonstrated its effectiveness and reliability, further solidifying its reputation as a top attack helicopter.

It’s important to note that the designation of the “world’s best attack helicopter” is subjective and can vary depending on specific requirements, operational scenarios, and technological advancements. Other attack helicopters, such as the Russian Mi-28N Night Hunter or the Eurocopter Tiger, also have their unique strengths and capabilities. The assessment of the “best” attack helicopter ultimately depends on a range of factors, including the context of its use, the specific mission requirements, and the operational preferences of different nations and armed forces.

Minutes after the radars had been reduced to rubble, Nighthawk stealth jets soared through the twenty-mile-wide radar gap, headed for Baghdad. But the Army’s Apache attack helicopter aviators they had struck first to “kick down the door” for the Nighthawks. Nearly three decades later, the Apache’s status as the world’s premier attack helicopter remains largely unchallenged, and the type continues to see extensive action in the Middle East and in demand in countries as diverse as the UK, Egypt, India and Taiwan. The $35 million armored attack helicopter, which can pack as many as sixteen tank-busting missiles under its stub wings, remains supreme.

The Apache’s origins date back to the United States withdrawal from the Vietnam ധąɾ, as the Army turned its attention back to the huge mechanized armies of the Warsaw Pact. Helicopter gunships had proven highly useful in Vietnam for delivering precise strikes and loitering air support—but relatively lightly-armed Viet Cong had shot down hundreds of them. The Red Army mustered heavier anti-aircraft defenses and huge tank armies that would not be phased by miniguns and anti-personnel rockets.

Seeking a helicopter fit to tackle Soviet tank division, the Army ultimately had to choose between the Bell YAH-63, which resembled a stretched-out Cobra, and the McDonnell-Douglas YAH-64. Disliking the former’s tricycle landing gear and two-shaft rotor, the Army selected the YAH-64 in 1976. Per custom (and even regulation), permission was obtained from Apache elders to name the helicopter after the Native American tribe.

The AH-64’s tandem seats situate the pilot higher to the rear while a ωεɑρσռs officer and co-pilot sat closer to the nose. Though both can fly the chopper, the pilot uses a PNVS wide-angle infrared night-vision system for navigation, while the gunner employs a rotating TADS targeting system, combining zoomable infrared cameras with a laser-target mounted in a turret on the Apache’s nose. The crew are protected by 2,500 pounds of light boron plating and Kevlar-lined seats, protecting them from ubiquitous 12.7-millimeter machineguns and twenty-three-milimeter flak cannons, while the fuel tanks have self-sealing protection system. Both laser and radar-warning receivers alert the crew to imminent missile attacks, and a rotor-mounted ALQ-144A “disco ball” infrared jammer can help mis-direct heat-seeking missiles.

Two 1,700-horsepower T700-GE-701 turboshafts, slung on each side of the fuselage in heat-signature-reducing pods, turn the four-bladed main and tail rotors made of steel and composite materials, allowing speeds of 182 miles per hour, a service ceiling of 21,000 feet, and an endurance of 150 minutes. Despite weighing nearly nine tons loaded, the Apache proved exceptionally agile, capable of pulling off barrel rolls and loops. The Apache’s stub wings each mount two pylons typically carrying a mix of pods carrying nineteen 2.75-inch rockets for use against personnel and light vehicles, and quad-racks of AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

In Vietnam, AH-1 Cobra gunships had successfully picked off North Vietnamese tanks with wire-guided TOW missiles. But these required the helicopter to hover exposed for a half-minute or longer as the gunner piloted the missile to the target—a potentially suicidal tactic in a high-intensity conflict. The one-hundred-pound Hellfire was laser-guided, and traveled at supersonic speeds, meaning the operator only had to paint its target with a laser for ten seconds or less. This allowed Apaches to hover low behind terrain, perform a popup-Hellfire attack, and then duck back behind cover.