Bell AH-1 Cobra

[BlackBat242]

You don´t conduct long range assault every days. I am pretty sure that a coordinated package departing from different locations can do the trick.
For the amphib equation., F-35 are already there.
For the US Army. A-10 can fly from nearly everywhere flat and paved. The Mohawk before did its fair share honorably.

The A-10 is not designed for rough-field operations. It can fly from highways in a pinch, but that was not the design brief. Mohawk was an entirely different class of aircraft.

Seems they can do it fine:

Yes - paved road = highway.

Bulldozed dirt runway = "rough-field".

Is the USAF or USMC going to fly in the asphalt & roller-vehicles to pave the bulldozed dirt in that "improvised-airfield near the front line" so the A-10 can use it?

 

[Grey Havoc]

From The Archives: Hellfire-Armed HueyCobra | Aviation Week Network

The cover of the issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology dated Dec. 16, 1974, shows an Army/Rockwell International laser-guided prototype Hellfire missile being tested on a Bell Helicopter AH-1G Huey Cobra at Los Angeles International Airport.

aviationweek.com

 

[Mark Nankivil]

The Gerry Balzer collection just keeps giving. Attached is a proposed AH-1J Search and Rescue Variant - think Bell 222 made out with an AH-1J one night in the hangar and the offspring looks like.... Really badly stained paper print but worth the scan to share.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[RAP]

Tried to clean it up some, removed handwritten notes.

 

[Forest Green]

AH-1Z Attack Helicopter's New Long Range Missile Seen For The First Time

The Marines are working to dramatically extend the kinetic reach of their AH-1Zs to help ensure their relevance in future high-end fights.

www.twz.com

 

[NMaude]

AH-1Z Attack Helicopter's New Long Range Missile Seen For The First Time

The Marines are working to dramatically extend the kinetic reach of their AH-1Zs to help ensure their relevance in future high-end fights.

www.twz.com

View attachment 759942

So perhaps a modification of the SDB-II?

 

[TomS]

So perhaps a modification of the SDB-II?

A glide bomb seems like a singularly poor choice for a helicopter.

As it happens, this is an L3Harris system, so presumably an entirely new design. (The only L3H involvement in SDB-II is the launcher, I believe)

US Marine Corps and L3Harris Launch First Long-Range Precision Fire in Training Range Demonstration

The U.S. Marine Corps successfully demonstrated an L3Harris Technologies solution for long-range precision fires from a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform using an AH-1Z helicopter at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona.

www.l3harris.com

MELBOURNE, Fla., Feb. 17, 2025 — The U.S. Marine Corps successfully demonstrated an L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) solution for long-range precision fires from a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform using an AH-1Z helicopter at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona. This demonstration marks the first successful engagement of a target from a VTOL platform at previously untouchable ranges.

“Assessments of current and future capability gaps of the fleet’s needs identified this long-range precision fire initiative as a cost-effective solution for use against maritime and land-based targets,” said Col. Scott Shadforth, Director, Expeditionary Maritime Aviation – Advanced Development Team, U.S. Marine Corps.

The company developed the low-cost, long-range weapon system and integrated it on the Marines’ helicopter as part of an Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering effort.

“L3Harris and the Marine Corps have established a strong partnership to develop and evaluate this new, advanced capability,” said Ed Zoiss, President, Space and Airborne Systems, L3Harris. “This weapon system will help the warfighter handle increasingly sophisticated threats and avoid entering into adversary weapon engagement zones.”

L3Harris’ long-range precision fire solution can strike targets – beyond ranges that were previously achievable – and its modular open system ensures adaptability in multi-domain environments. The weapon’s design has demonstrated a capability of integrating a variety of payloads to satisfy several mission sets and has proven a greater distance range than required.

 

[yasotay]

So perhaps a modification of the SDB-II?

Shape seems significantly different. From the write up, and it is being launched from a helicopter at low altitude, it must have a substiacial fuel reserve to get to whatever range is being specified as "long range."
@TomS found the answer as I was writing.

 

[NMaude]

A glide bomb seems like a singularly poor choice for a helicopter.

A good point but if a solid-rocket booster (The Hellfire's rocket-motor comes to mind) was attached to it with an adapter that would work (It would also enable a ground-launched version too).

 

[TomS]

A good point but if a solid-rocket booster (The Hellfire's rocket-motor comes to mind) was attached to it with an adapter that would work (It would also enable a ground-launched version too).

The shape appears very different than SDB-II, and there seems to be a large, rectangular air intake under the fuselage. This is almost certainly an air-breather.

 

[Stargazer]

Just a nice photo of an AH-1FB next to an AH-1Z, the old Cobra and the new.

 

[NMaude]

The shape appears very different than SDB-II, and there seems to be a large, rectangular air intake under the fuselage.

Correct, however I was just pointing out a way that the SDB-II could be deployed from a helicopter.

This is almost certainly an air-breather.

That makes sense, I wonder if a turbojet version of the SDB-II will be developed as that seems logical to me.

 

[Halcyon66]

Great image showing the blade tracking, the head has one flex beam directly over the other.

Regards,

 

[Stargazer]

Great image showing the blade tracking, the head has one flex beam directly over the other.

Great indeed. I've attempted to correct it a bit in order to make it clearer.

 

[Forest Green]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1892904141237657742

View: https://x.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1892904141237657742

 

[BlackBat242]

Just a nice photo of an AH-1FB next to an AH-1Z, the old Cobra and the new.

View attachment 759964

Parallel developments, not sequential.
The AH-1Z is the end of the twin-engine Cobra line, which started with the first orders for the AH-1J in May 1968.
The improved AH-1T followed with deliveries starting in 1978.
The AH-1W, with more improvements and the same engine as the AH-64 and UH-60 then entered service in 1986.
Development of the AH-1Z began in 1996, production started in 2003, and began combat deployments in 2010.

The AH-1FB is the end of the single-engine Cobra line, which started as a company project, flying in September 1965.
The US Army was impressed, and ordered the AH-1G in April 1966.
The first AH-1Gs were delivered in June 1967 and immediately deployed to Vietnam.
Improved versions followed starting with the AH-1Q in 1974, then random designations of different configurations followed - -S, -P, -E, -F, and -FB (improved versions of the AH-1G designated earlier in the sequence? Army brass must have been smoking the happy weed).

 

[Stargazer]

Parallel developments, not sequential.
The AH-1Z is the end of the twin-engine Cobra line, which started with the first orders for the AH-1J in May 1968.
The improved AH-1T followed with deliveries starting in 1978.
The AH-1W, with more improvements and the same engine as the AH-64 and UH-60 then entered service in 1986.
Development of the AH-1Z began in 1996, production started in 2003, and began combat deployments in 2010.

The AH-1FB is the end of the single-engine Cobra line, which started as a company project, flying in September 1965.
The US Army was impressed, and ordered the AH-1G in April 1966.
The first AH-1Gs were delivered in June 1967 and immediately deployed to Vietnam.
Improved versions followed starting with the AH-1Q in 1974, then random designations of different configurations followed - -S, -P, -E, -F, and -FB (improved versions of the AH-1G designated earlier in the sequence? Army brass must have been smoking the happy weed).

Thanks. My phrase "the old and new" refered to the two distinct designs, the "old" single-engine Cobra and the "new" twin-engine one.

 

[yasotay]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1892904141237657742

View: https://x.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1892904141237657742

"The current edition of Aviation Week and Space Technology identifies the missile as the L3/Harris "Red Wolf."

 

[Sirpad]

Although removed from active service over a decade ago, it is still worthy mentioning IAD AF's AH-1G modification to carry and launch the domestically developed Tamuz ATGM. Extremely advanced for it's time (late 1980s), it was an optically guided radio-controlled missile with a range of over 20 miles and pinpoint accuracy. The control was done by a special horn antenae installed in place of the cannon on a non-permanent basis when needed. Up to four missiles could be carried by a single helicopter. Both the missile and the cobra's launching capability were a state-level secret for over two decades, when both the helicopter and the missile were nearing the point of being obsolete they were made public. Nowadays the newer Spike NLOS replaces the Tamuz, and it is carried by the AH-64D Saraf.

 

[TomS]

"The current edition of Aviation Week and Space Technology identifies the missile as the L3/Harris "Red Wolf."

From 2022:

L3Harris To Buy Aerojet Rocketdyne For $4.7 Billion | Aviation Week Network

The deal adds one of the U.S. government’s most important propulsion, space and missile system suppliers to industry’s self-titled trusted disruptor.

aviationweek.com

The Red Wolf, an L3Harris vehicle funded by the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office, is known as a candidate for the Army’s Air Launched Effects-Large program.

And

U.S. Army Shows Off Future Warfare At The EDGE | Aviation Week Network

A week of experiments in the Utah desert offered a glimpse into the U.S. Army’s vision of the future of warfare.

aviationweek.com

A new ALE-Large, identified as the L3Harris Red Wolf, adds a 6-ft.-long, turbojet-powered UAS to the General Atomics MQ-1C’s options of air-launched tools. In this case, the Red Wolf—developed secretly by the Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office with a German-made turbojet—functioned as an airborne communications relay.

And

https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2024/budget_justification/pdfs/03_RDT_and_E/OSD_PB2024.pdf

Title: Low-Altitude Future Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Long-Range Attack Missile (LRAM)
Description: LRAM is a FY 2023 new-start JCTD. The LRAM JCTD will build upon L3Harris’ Red Wolf air-launched unmanned air vehicle (UAV).

Specifically, the JCTD will develop a launcher and control interface for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, kinetic payload, command and control (C2) architecture, and a seeker for autonomous over-the-horizon engagements. Most of
the aforementioned will be extensible to other aircraft, to include unmanned aircraft. This weapon system concept will significantly extend the lethal range of VTOL-launched weapons. Moreover, outfitting the VTOL fleet of tactical aircraft (H-1, H-60 series,
AH-64, and Joint Future Vertical Lift) with this weaponized UAV will dramatically increase the number of aircraft available for over-
the-horizon strike.