A major factor in the longevity of an aircraft design is the ability of the airframe to accommodate more powerful engines. No pilot worth his or her wings ever thinks an aircraft has enough thrust or lift. The initial batch of production Hueys had an anemic (by current standards) 700-hp Lycoming turboshaft engine. The current model has a pair of Pratt and Whitneys, each rated at 900 hp each, but with burst transmission power rating of up to 1,290 hp.
Originally intended as an angel of mercy for battlefield casualty evacuation, the Huey proved to be a jack- of-all-trades, providing a bird's-eye view of the battlefield for commanders and forward observers, ferrying troops in and out of hot landing zones, hauling cargo to mountaintop fire bases, and serving as a platform for door-mounted machine guns and rockets. Hueys are currently the only aircraft being used by all four services — the USAF still uses a small number for VIP transport, missile range safety, and support of remote missile silos. The first Huey designed for the Marine Corps was the UH-1E, which entered service with MAG-26 in February 1964. It was equipped with an uprated 1,400-hp engine, a rescue hoist, improved electronics, and a rotor brake (to lock the rotor in position, fore and aft, for shipboard parking).
The current Marine version is the UH-1N, which was introduced in 1971, of which 111 remain in inventory. The pilot and copilot are supplemented for combat missions by a pair of door gunners manning 7.62mm or .50-cal. machine guns. Their primary mission is to act as a command and control platform for MEF and MEU (SOC) commanders. To this end, a special communications package can be fitted to the Marine Huey for use by a task force commander. The Marines figure the current upgrade cost at $4.7 million. The big news about the Huey these days is the planned upgrade program, which will be combined with a similar upgrade for the AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter. Beyond that, current plans have the UH-1N serving until about 2020, when a command and control version of the new V-22 Osprey will probably take over the job.
Bell Textron AH-1W Cobra Attack Helicopter
'There were many airplanes, but it was the skinny bird that scared us the most.'
The Iraqis called it the 'skinny bird.' The Marines call it 'Whiskey Cobra.' 'Whiskey' is the military phonetic code for the letter W. Whatever you call it, it's one of the most lethal and versatile flying machines on the battlefield, the Bell Textron AH-1 W Cobra. The origins of the attack helicopter can be traced back to the long, bloody colonial war in Algeria in the 1950s, where the French Army experimentally rigged guns up to 20mm to their light Alouette helicopters. In Vietnam, the U.S. Army carried out similar experiments with automatic weapons and rocket pods on various models of the Huey. It soon became obvious that hitting a moving target from a moving helicopter required some kind of fire-control system more sophisticated than the Mark 1 human eyeball. It was also clear that the workload of flying a helicopter, especially when people on the ground were shooting back, made it necessary to divide the combat tasks between a pilot and a gunner. As helicopter losses mounted, it was also clear that to survive, a gunship would need to present the smallest possible target, and carry as much protective armor as the engine(s) could lift.
The result was the Army's original AH-1G Cobra (Army aviators call it 'The Snake'). This used the engine, transmission, and rotor of the Huey, installed in a very narrow fuselage, with a gunner seated in the forward cockpit and the pilot seated behind and above him. Two stub wings provided mounting points for rockets and machine-gun pods, and a nose-mounted turret provided room for a machine gun, or 40mm grenade launcher. The Marines were sufficiently impressed with the new birds to ask for the loan of thirty-eight Army Cobras, which were pressed into service for Vietnam. Experience with these early Cobras convinced Marine aviators that they needed more power, which meant a second engine. Shipboard operation also required adding a rotor brake, which locked the rotor in the fore-and-aft position for reduced stowage space. Designated the AH-1J Sea Cobra, the aircraft was upgunned with a three-barrel rotary 20mm cannon mounted in a power-driven chin turret, allowing the gunner to fire on targets up to 110deg off the nose.
The Sea Cobra entered service in 1971 with HMA-269, and sixty-nine aircraft were eventually delivered. An improved version, designated AH-1T was stretched 3 ft, 7 in./ 1.1 m to provide additional internal fuel. It was also equipped to launch the TOW antitank missile. This led to the ultimate Cobra design, the AH-1W 'Super Cobra,' which entered service early in 1986, powered by two GE T700 engines rated at 1,690 hp each. Maximum level speed is 175 kt/320 kph, and the maximum range with internal fuel is 395 mi/636 km. The Whiskey Cobra has a laser range finder and stabilized optical system mounted in the nose, carries chaff and flare launchers, and has a 'Black Hole' IR signature-suppression system that mixes outside air with the hot engine exhaust. Up to eight TOW or Hellfire missiles can be carried. The stub wings can even be fitted with launch rails for the AIM-9 Sidewinder, enabling Cobra to engage enemy helicopters or aircraft. By 1996, over one hundred new aircraft had been delivered, while more than 42 older '-1T' birds have been upgraded to the AH-1 W configuration. They serve with six operational squadrons and a training unit, HMT-303 at Camp Pendleton, California.
During Desert Storm, the typical weapons load was a pair of LAU-68 rocket pods on the inboard pylons, with anti-tank missiles outboard. Marine Cobras played a key role in the battle of Khafji, decimating Iraqi armor. One Marine commander watched in amazement as an Iraqi artillery round detonated directly underneath a hovering Cobra. The helicopter shuddered and continued its mission. Despite sand-storms and salt fog, the Super Cobra maintained a 92 % mission-readiness rate, 24 % better than the Army's more complex (and much better publicized) AH-64A Apache, which required continuous support by civilian contractor technicians.
Current plans for upgrading the Whiskey Cobra will extend the service life of the fleet until at least 2020. One goal is to achieve commonality of engine, transmission, and other systems between the AH-1W and the UH-1N, thereby reducing maintenance costs and spare parts inventories. Key changes will include a new composite four- bladed rotor for improved agility and lower noise and vibration levels, an improved night-targeting system (NTS) based on an Israeli design, and numerous digital cockpit display improvements to reduce the pilot and gunner workload. The NTS system is designed to provide Marine Cobra crews with the same kind of FLIR and laser- designation system that is carried by the AH-64A Apache and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. This means that it will be able to self-designate for delivery of Hellfire missiles, or even Paveway laser-guided bombs. By the time the program is completed, it will mean that the Cobra fleet will remain viable into the second decade of the 21st century. By that time, an attack version of the V-22 Osprey is a likely development, and may finally replace this classic warbird.
Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight
In the late 1940s, a visionary group of young Marine officers began to explore the possibilities that rapidly evolving helicopter technology offered for amphibious assault. They called the new concept 'vertical envelopment.' As the main landing force came ashore over the beach, small helicopter-borne detachments would seize key terrain and blocking positions deep behind the enemy's coastal defenses. Something like this had been tried with parachute and glider-borne infantry in the Normandy invasion, but the confused and scattered night drop had nearly turned into a disaster. During the Korean War, the small numbers of fragile piston-engined helicopters available had proved their value in medical evacuation of the injured and battlefield observation for commanders. But it took the
