At the bottom end of the weapons scale, machine guns are not normally used by attack helicopters, although the Bell AH-1G Cobra began life with an Emerson Electric TAT-102A chin turret housing a General Electric GAU-2B/A six-barrel 7.62 mm Minigun. Likewise, the Mil Mi-24 assault helicopter was initially equipped with the four-barrel 12.7 mm Yakushev-Borsov (Yak-B) 9A624 in a chin turret.
Cannon have almost universally taken over from machine guns as turreted armament, but the German Army Eurocopter Tiger UHTs at present can carry automatic weapons only in the form of fixed gunpods.
The Tiger UHTs deployed with KHR36 (Kampfhubschrauberregiment 36) to Afghanistan in December 2012 were cleared to use FN Herstal HMP400 pods, each with a 12.7 mm M3P machine gun and 400 rounds. The pod weighs 138 kg and the gun fires at 1025 rd/min.
Modified by Eurocopter to Asgard-F (Afghanistan Stabilisation German Army Rapid Deployment – Full) standard, these Tigers were also to use 19 round, 70 mm rocket pods and MBDA Hot guided missiles.
One attack helicopter that still uses a turreted machine gun is Iran’s Hesa Shahed (Witness) 285, a very light (1450 kg) single-seat aircraft derived from the Bell 206 JetRanger. Designated AH-85A, it has a single-barrel 12.7 mm PKM in a chin turret, and is reportedly in limited service with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Air Force.
Cannon have almost universally taken over from machine guns as turreted armament, but the German Army Eurocopter Tiger UHTs at present can carry automatic weapons only in the form of fixed gunpods.
The Tiger UHTs deployed with KHR36 (Kampfhubschrauberregiment 36) to Afghanistan in December 2012 were cleared to use FN Herstal HMP400 pods, each with a 12.7 mm M3P machine gun and 400 rounds. The pod weighs 138 kg and the gun fires at 1025 rd/min.
Modified by Eurocopter to Asgard-F (Afghanistan Stabilisation German Army Rapid Deployment – Full) standard, these Tigers were also to use 19 round, 70 mm rocket pods and MBDA Hot guided missiles.
One attack helicopter that still uses a turreted machine gun is Iran’s Hesa Shahed (Witness) 285, a very light (1450 kg) single-seat aircraft derived from the Bell 206 JetRanger. Designated AH-85A, it has a single-barrel 12.7 mm PKM in a chin turret, and is reportedly in limited service with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Air Force.
I Cannon
However, America discovered in Vietnam, as the Soviet Union found later in Afghanistan, that helicopter-mounted machine guns are easily outgunned by heavy automatic weapons on the ground.
In air-ground operations a 7.62 mm machine gun is effective only to around 500 metres, and only against soft targets such as troops in the open. A 12.7 mm gun extends firing range to 1000 metres and can deal with a broader target spectrum. Cannon (able to fire explosive ammunition) start at 20 mm, are effective to perhaps 1700 metres, and can destroy lightly armoured vehicles.
One example of 20 mm armament for an attack helicopter is the Nexter Systems THL20 turret with the single-barrel 20M621. This is used on Romania’s IAR-330L Puma and has been selected for India’s HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Another is the Denel Land Systems GI-2 chin turret introduced by South Africa’s ATE in upgrading the Mil Mi-24s of the Algerian Air Force. The GI-2 is also used on the Denel Rooivalk (Red Kestrel). Such guns typically fire at 700-750 rd/min.
If a high firing rate is required (which is generally not the case in engaging ground targets, but may be preferable in firing at aircraft and fast attack craft), a multiple-barrel cannon may be preferred.
One leading example is the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products M197 three-barrel 20 mm Gatling gun, which can fire at up to 1500 rd/min and is used in turreted form on the Bell AH-1J/W and the new AH-1Z, and the AgustaWestland A129. One factor in the selection of the A129 as the basis for Turkey’s Atak programme was the outstanding accuracy provided by its Oto Melara TM197B turret, mounting an M197.
In developing the Mi-24 to meet operational demands in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Mil first replaced the original four-barrel 12.7 mm Yak-B with a flexibly-mounted twin-barrel 23 mm GSh-23L. Only 25 of these Mi-24VPs were built, but the GSh-23L is used as a wing-mounted pod with 250 rounds (UPK-23-250) on various Russian helicopters.
For the production of Mi-24P, the chin turret was abandoned in favour of a twin-barrel 30-mm GSh-30 cannon, fixed to the starboard fuselage side. However, the GSh-23 chin turret (NPPU-23) returned with the Mi-35M export version, as used by Brazil and Venezuela.
With the notable exceptions of the AH-1 and A129 series, the majority of attack helicopters have adopted 30 mm cannon. The leader was the Boeing AH-64 Apache series, with an Alliant Techsystems (ATK) M230 Chain Gun in a turret under the front cockpit.
Another example is the Eurocopter Tiger ARH/HAD/HAP, with a Nexter Systems 30M781 cannon in a THL30 chin turret. As indicated earlier, the German Army Tiger UHT has no turret, but consideration is being given to a flexibly-mounted 30 mm Rheimetall/Mauser RMK30 (Rueckstossfreie Maschinenkanone 30) recoilless revolver cannon, which fires caseless ammunition
at 300 rd/min.
In developing replacements for the Soviet Union’s Mi-24, the well-proven single-barrel dual-feed 30-mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon was taken from the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. Rate of fire is selectable between 200 and 550 rd/min.
In the case of the Mi-28N the 2A42 cannon is mounted in an NPPU-28N turret under the front cockpit, but for the Kamov Ka-50/52 it is trunnion-mounted on the starboard fuselage side, and can be moved through 40.5 degrees in elevation.
However, America discovered in Vietnam, as the Soviet Union found later in Afghanistan, that helicopter-mounted machine guns are easily outgunned by heavy automatic weapons on the ground.
In air-ground operations a 7.62 mm machine gun is effective only to around 500 metres, and only against soft targets such as troops in the open. A 12.7 mm gun extends firing range to 1000 metres and can deal with a broader target spectrum. Cannon (able to fire explosive ammunition) start at 20 mm, are effective to perhaps 1700 metres, and can destroy lightly armoured vehicles.
One example of 20 mm armament for an attack helicopter is the Nexter Systems THL20 turret with the single-barrel 20M621. This is used on Romania’s IAR-330L Puma and has been selected for India’s HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Another is the Denel Land Systems GI-2 chin turret introduced by South Africa’s ATE in upgrading the Mil Mi-24s of the Algerian Air Force. The GI-2 is also used on the Denel Rooivalk (Red Kestrel). Such guns typically fire at 700-750 rd/min.
If a high firing rate is required (which is generally not the case in engaging ground targets, but may be preferable in firing at aircraft and fast attack craft), a multiple-barrel cannon may be preferred.
One leading example is the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products M197 three-barrel 20 mm Gatling gun, which can fire at up to 1500 rd/min and is used in turreted form on the Bell AH-1J/W and the new AH-1Z, and the AgustaWestland A129. One factor in the selection of the A129 as the basis for Turkey’s Atak programme was the outstanding accuracy provided by its Oto Melara TM197B turret, mounting an M197.
In developing the Mi-24 to meet operational demands in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Mil first replaced the original four-barrel 12.7 mm Yak-B with a flexibly-mounted twin-barrel 23 mm GSh-23L. Only 25 of these Mi-24VPs were built, but the GSh-23L is used as a wing-mounted pod with 250 rounds (UPK-23-250) on various Russian helicopters.
For the production of Mi-24P, the chin turret was abandoned in favour of a twin-barrel 30-mm GSh-30 cannon, fixed to the starboard fuselage side. However, the GSh-23 chin turret (NPPU-23) returned with the Mi-35M export version, as used by Brazil and Venezuela.
With the notable exceptions of the AH-1 and A129 series, the majority of attack helicopters have adopted 30 mm cannon. The leader was the Boeing AH-64 Apache series, with an Alliant Techsystems (ATK) M230 Chain Gun in a turret under the front cockpit.
Another example is the Eurocopter Tiger ARH/HAD/HAP, with a Nexter Systems 30M781 cannon in a THL30 chin turret. As indicated earlier, the German Army Tiger UHT has no turret, but consideration is being given to a flexibly-mounted 30 mm Rheimetall/Mauser RMK30 (Rueckstossfreie Maschinenkanone 30) recoilless revolver cannon, which fires caseless ammunition
at 300 rd/min.
In developing replacements for the Soviet Union’s Mi-24, the well-proven single-barrel dual-feed 30-mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon was taken from the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. Rate of fire is selectable between 200 and 550 rd/min.
In the case of the Mi-28N the 2A42 cannon is mounted in an NPPU-28N turret under the front cockpit, but for the Kamov Ka-50/52 it is trunnion-mounted on the starboard fuselage side, and can be moved through 40.5 degrees in elevation.
I Rocket Projectiles
The cannon discussed above provide a cost-effective means to deal with a wide range of targets detected up to large angles off-axis. However, aircraft cannon are easily outranged by modern air defence systems. For example, the widely used, radar-directed four-barrel 23 mm ZSU-23 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system, firing at up to
4000 rd/min, has an effective slant range of 2000 metres. Man-portable Sams have a maximum range of 4000-6500 metres.
Ground-based automatic weapons can in turn be outranged by air-launched rocket projectiles. The most widely used Western rockets are the Thales/TDA Armements
68 mm SNEB, and the 2.75 inch/70 mm General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products Hydra-70, Forges de Zeebrugge FZ90 and Magellan Aerospace CRV7.
The Hydra-70 is a derivative of the FFAR (Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket) that was developed in the late 1940s as an unguided air-air missile, basically to achieve a quick
kill against a Soviet bomber carrying an atomic bomb. It served as a stopgap measure
until guided missiles such as the AIM-7 became available.
The modern Hydra-70 is produced with nine different warheads, including the M151 (4.5 kg HE), M229 (7.7 kg HE) and M255A1 (flechettes), plus smoke, illuminating flare and practice versions. Over four million Hydra-70s have been manufactured by GDATP since 1994. It is carried in seven- and 19-tube pods.
Canada’s CRV7 is claimed to have superior performance, with an effective range of up to 8000 metres. Over 800,000 have been produced for 13 nations.
Russia’s 57 mm S-5 rocket is now being superseded by the 80 mm S-8, which weighs 11.1-15.2 kg, and is used on helicopters in 20 round B8V20-A pods. It has a peak velocity of Mach 1.8 and a maximum range of 4500 metres. The S-8KOM has a shaped-charge anti-armour warhead, and the S-8BM is designed to attack personnel in fortifications.
The Mi-28 is also seen with two B-13L1 pods, each with five 122 mm S-13s, some of the most powerful rockets fired from helicopters. The 75 kg S-13T has a tandem warhead, capable of penetrating one metre of reinforced concrete or six metres of soil. The 68 kg S-13OF has a fragmentation warhead, producing 450 diamond-shaped fragments of 25-30 grams.
The Mi-28N is capable of carrying two 240 mm S-24B rockets, each weighing 232 kg. It may be noted that Russian attack helicopters use bombs in the 50-500 kg range, and the KMGU-2 submunitions dispenser pod.
China produces 57 and 80 mm rockets that are probably copies of the Russian originals, plus the home-grown 90 mm Norinco Type 1 and 130-mm Type 82.
It is to be noted that because of their specific nature laser-guided rocket projectiles, which effectively turn “ordinary” rockets into missiles, will be discussed separately in a forthcoming issue of Armada International. They also are a relatively recent development and are particularly intended to provide new effective punch to lighter utility helicopters that are a considerably cheaper to operate than dedicated attack helicopters.
The cannon discussed above provide a cost-effective means to deal with a wide range of targets detected up to large angles off-axis. However, aircraft cannon are easily outranged by modern air defence systems. For example, the widely used, radar-directed four-barrel 23 mm ZSU-23 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system, firing at up to
4000 rd/min, has an effective slant range of 2000 metres. Man-portable Sams have a maximum range of 4000-6500 metres.
Ground-based automatic weapons can in turn be outranged by air-launched rocket projectiles. The most widely used Western rockets are the Thales/TDA Armements
68 mm SNEB, and the 2.75 inch/70 mm General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products Hydra-70, Forges de Zeebrugge FZ90 and Magellan Aerospace CRV7.
The Hydra-70 is a derivative of the FFAR (Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket) that was developed in the late 1940s as an unguided air-air missile, basically to achieve a quick
kill against a Soviet bomber carrying an atomic bomb. It served as a stopgap measure
until guided missiles such as the AIM-7 became available.
The modern Hydra-70 is produced with nine different warheads, including the M151 (4.5 kg HE), M229 (7.7 kg HE) and M255A1 (flechettes), plus smoke, illuminating flare and practice versions. Over four million Hydra-70s have been manufactured by GDATP since 1994. It is carried in seven- and 19-tube pods.
Canada’s CRV7 is claimed to have superior performance, with an effective range of up to 8000 metres. Over 800,000 have been produced for 13 nations.
Russia’s 57 mm S-5 rocket is now being superseded by the 80 mm S-8, which weighs 11.1-15.2 kg, and is used on helicopters in 20 round B8V20-A pods. It has a peak velocity of Mach 1.8 and a maximum range of 4500 metres. The S-8KOM has a shaped-charge anti-armour warhead, and the S-8BM is designed to attack personnel in fortifications.
The Mi-28 is also seen with two B-13L1 pods, each with five 122 mm S-13s, some of the most powerful rockets fired from helicopters. The 75 kg S-13T has a tandem warhead, capable of penetrating one metre of reinforced concrete or six metres of soil. The 68 kg S-13OF has a fragmentation warhead, producing 450 diamond-shaped fragments of 25-30 grams.
The Mi-28N is capable of carrying two 240 mm S-24B rockets, each weighing 232 kg. It may be noted that Russian attack helicopters use bombs in the 50-500 kg range, and the KMGU-2 submunitions dispenser pod.
China produces 57 and 80 mm rockets that are probably copies of the Russian originals, plus the home-grown 90 mm Norinco Type 1 and 130-mm Type 82.
It is to be noted that because of their specific nature laser-guided rocket projectiles, which effectively turn “ordinary” rockets into missiles, will be discussed separately in a forthcoming issue of Armada International. They also are a relatively recent development and are particularly intended to provide new effective punch to lighter utility helicopters that are a considerably cheaper to operate than dedicated attack helicopters.
I Air-to-Air
The heaviest air-to-air guided weapons used by helicopters are the 105 kg Vympel R-73 or AA-11 (on the Mi-28 and Ka-50/52) and the 87 kg Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder (on the AH-1W/Z). Both provide exceptional range by short-range missile standards, the claimed figure for the basic R-73 (fired from fast jets in head-on engagements) being 30 km. The choice of the AIM-9 by the US Marine Corps for the Cobra series may have been encouraged by the need to minimise the number of different missile types on a ship.
There have been suggestions that Brazil’s Mi-35Ms may be cleared to use the Mectron MAA-1B Piranha II or Denel/Mectron Darter-A air-air missiles.
Weight considerations favour the adaptation of portable Sams for self-defence air-air weapons. The leaders are the 18.7 kg MBDA Air-To-Air Mistral (Atam, used on the Tiger), and the even lighter 10.6 kg Kolomna 9K38 Igla (Needle) or SA-18 (on the Mi-28 and Ka-50/52) and the 10.4 kg Raytheon AIM-92 Stinger (on the AH-64). The Atam is based on the Mistral 2, and has both contact and proximity fuzes. It has a maximum range of 6500 metres, and is carried in twin-round launchers.
The heaviest air-to-air guided weapons used by helicopters are the 105 kg Vympel R-73 or AA-11 (on the Mi-28 and Ka-50/52) and the 87 kg Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder (on the AH-1W/Z). Both provide exceptional range by short-range missile standards, the claimed figure for the basic R-73 (fired from fast jets in head-on engagements) being 30 km. The choice of the AIM-9 by the US Marine Corps for the Cobra series may have been encouraged by the need to minimise the number of different missile types on a ship.
There have been suggestions that Brazil’s Mi-35Ms may be cleared to use the Mectron MAA-1B Piranha II or Denel/Mectron Darter-A air-air missiles.
Weight considerations favour the adaptation of portable Sams for self-defence air-air weapons. The leaders are the 18.7 kg MBDA Air-To-Air Mistral (Atam, used on the Tiger), and the even lighter 10.6 kg Kolomna 9K38 Igla (Needle) or SA-18 (on the Mi-28 and Ka-50/52) and the 10.4 kg Raytheon AIM-92 Stinger (on the AH-64). The Atam is based on the Mistral 2, and has both contact and proximity fuzes. It has a maximum range of 6500 metres, and is carried in twin-round launchers.
I Air-to-Surface Missiles
Attack helicopters were developed primarily to destroy armoured fighting vehicles, hence the most important armament category is traditionally the anti-tank guided weapon. Germany pioneered wire-guidance in the early 1940s, but in the early postwar period Britain ran some tests and concluded that the concept was too prone to breakages. Britain consequently missed out on a whole generation of anti-tank missiles.
Early missiles using manual command guidance gave poor accuracy. It was generally decided instead to adopt Saclos (semi-automatic command to line-of-sight) guidance. In this the operator holds the sight on the target, and the system automatically tracks the missile’s flares and generates corrective signals to bring it back to the line-of-sight.
The world’s first helicopter-mounted air-to-ground missile was France’s Nord AS.11 (adapted from the ground-launched SS. 11), which had manual command wire guidance and was adopted by the US Army as the AGM-22. It was employed on two UH-1Bs, and was first operationally used by the Army in October 1965. The AGM-22 was later superseded by the (Hughes) BGM-71 Tow, which was also wire-guided but used Saclos. It was first used operationally in May 1972, destroying T54 and PT-76 armoured vehicles.
The most widely used wire-guided missiles are the 12.5 kg KBM 9M14M Malyutka-2 (Baby-2) or AT-3, the 22.5 kg Raytheon BGM-71 Tow and the 24.5 kg Euromissile Hot. Wire guidance is limited to a range of around 4000 metres, but this was acceptable in the 20th century context of a Warsaw Pact armoured thrust across the north German plain. Target sightings at greater ranges were deemed unlikely due to generally poor visibility and the smoke of battle.
Radio guidance eliminates this range limitation, but may be vulnerable to jamming. As with wire guidance, line-of-sight to the target has to be maintained throughout missile flight.
One early example of a radio-guided anti-tank missile was the widely-used Kolomna (KBM) 31.4-kg 9M114 Kokum (Cocoon) or AT-6, the missile used in the 9K114 Shturm (Assault) system. The baseline weapon, which entered service in 1976, had a range of 5,000 metres.
In the 1990s the 9K114 began to be replaced by the 49.5 kg Kolomna 9K120 Ataka-V (Attack-V) or AT-9. This retains the launch tubes and sighting system of the 9K114, but has the supersonic (Mach 1.6) 9M120 missile, which in baseline form had a range of 5,800 metres. The Mi-28N can carry 16 of these missiles in two eight-tube launch racks.
The 9M120 has a tandem warhead for armoured targets, while the 9M120F has a thermobaric warhead for lightly armoured vehicles, buildings, caves and bunkers. The 9A2200 variant has an expanding-rod warhead for use against aircraft.
Laser spot-homing gives precision irrespective of firing range. A coded laser allows the target to be designated by another source, airborne or groundborne. This facilitates engagements from behind cover or beyond the operator’s visual range, and minimises the time of exposure of the launch helicopter.
The leading example of laser spot-homing is the 43 kg Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire, which has a range of 7,000 metres in direct fire mode, and 8,000 metres in indirect firings. It is supersonic, reducing the time of exposure in a self-designating firing. The AH-1Z and AH-64 can each carry 16 Hellfires. The lighter A129 and Tiger can each carry eight.
The Hellfire was first used operationally in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. It has traditionally been employed with three types of warhead: the AGM-114K with tandem warhead for armoured targets, the AGM-114M blast-fragmentation warhead for soft targets, and the AGM-114N metal augmented charge for urban structures, bunkers, radar sites, communications installations and bridges.
Beginning in 2012, Hellfire has been available with the AGM-114R multipurpose warhead that allows its effects to be selected (blast-fragmentation or anti-armour) to suit the target, just prior to firing. The AGM-114R also offers a choice of impact angles, from near-horizontal to near-vertical, to suit the target.
Other examples of laser-homing anti-armour missiles include the 13 kg Israel Aerospace Industries Lahat and the 49.8 kg Denel Dynamics Mokopa, which have maximum ranges of 8,000 and 10,000 metres respectively.
The AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire used by the AH-64D/E Longbow Apache employs active millimetre-wave radar guidance, providing day/night all-weather fire-and-forget capability.
The Soviets evidently decided that laser-spot-homing was too susceptible to decoys, and instead developed laser beam-riding, although in this case miss distance increases with firing range. The leading example is the 45 kg KBP 9K121 Vikhr (Whirlwind) or AT-16, which peaks at over Mach 1.75 and has a range of 8,000 metres from a helicopter. Vikhr is carried in the two six-tube UPP-800 launchers on the Ka-50/52. It has a proximity fuze for air-air firings.
The next Russian missile in this category will be the KBP Hermes-A, a two-stage weapon that peaks at around Mach 3.0 and has a maximum range of 20,000 metres.
Attack helicopters were developed primarily to destroy armoured fighting vehicles, hence the most important armament category is traditionally the anti-tank guided weapon. Germany pioneered wire-guidance in the early 1940s, but in the early postwar period Britain ran some tests and concluded that the concept was too prone to breakages. Britain consequently missed out on a whole generation of anti-tank missiles.
Early missiles using manual command guidance gave poor accuracy. It was generally decided instead to adopt Saclos (semi-automatic command to line-of-sight) guidance. In this the operator holds the sight on the target, and the system automatically tracks the missile’s flares and generates corrective signals to bring it back to the line-of-sight.
The world’s first helicopter-mounted air-to-ground missile was France’s Nord AS.11 (adapted from the ground-launched SS. 11), which had manual command wire guidance and was adopted by the US Army as the AGM-22. It was employed on two UH-1Bs, and was first operationally used by the Army in October 1965. The AGM-22 was later superseded by the (Hughes) BGM-71 Tow, which was also wire-guided but used Saclos. It was first used operationally in May 1972, destroying T54 and PT-76 armoured vehicles.
The most widely used wire-guided missiles are the 12.5 kg KBM 9M14M Malyutka-2 (Baby-2) or AT-3, the 22.5 kg Raytheon BGM-71 Tow and the 24.5 kg Euromissile Hot. Wire guidance is limited to a range of around 4000 metres, but this was acceptable in the 20th century context of a Warsaw Pact armoured thrust across the north German plain. Target sightings at greater ranges were deemed unlikely due to generally poor visibility and the smoke of battle.
Radio guidance eliminates this range limitation, but may be vulnerable to jamming. As with wire guidance, line-of-sight to the target has to be maintained throughout missile flight.
One early example of a radio-guided anti-tank missile was the widely-used Kolomna (KBM) 31.4-kg 9M114 Kokum (Cocoon) or AT-6, the missile used in the 9K114 Shturm (Assault) system. The baseline weapon, which entered service in 1976, had a range of 5,000 metres.
In the 1990s the 9K114 began to be replaced by the 49.5 kg Kolomna 9K120 Ataka-V (Attack-V) or AT-9. This retains the launch tubes and sighting system of the 9K114, but has the supersonic (Mach 1.6) 9M120 missile, which in baseline form had a range of 5,800 metres. The Mi-28N can carry 16 of these missiles in two eight-tube launch racks.
The 9M120 has a tandem warhead for armoured targets, while the 9M120F has a thermobaric warhead for lightly armoured vehicles, buildings, caves and bunkers. The 9A2200 variant has an expanding-rod warhead for use against aircraft.
Laser spot-homing gives precision irrespective of firing range. A coded laser allows the target to be designated by another source, airborne or groundborne. This facilitates engagements from behind cover or beyond the operator’s visual range, and minimises the time of exposure of the launch helicopter.
The leading example of laser spot-homing is the 43 kg Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire, which has a range of 7,000 metres in direct fire mode, and 8,000 metres in indirect firings. It is supersonic, reducing the time of exposure in a self-designating firing. The AH-1Z and AH-64 can each carry 16 Hellfires. The lighter A129 and Tiger can each carry eight.
The Hellfire was first used operationally in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. It has traditionally been employed with three types of warhead: the AGM-114K with tandem warhead for armoured targets, the AGM-114M blast-fragmentation warhead for soft targets, and the AGM-114N metal augmented charge for urban structures, bunkers, radar sites, communications installations and bridges.
Beginning in 2012, Hellfire has been available with the AGM-114R multipurpose warhead that allows its effects to be selected (blast-fragmentation or anti-armour) to suit the target, just prior to firing. The AGM-114R also offers a choice of impact angles, from near-horizontal to near-vertical, to suit the target.
Other examples of laser-homing anti-armour missiles include the 13 kg Israel Aerospace Industries Lahat and the 49.8 kg Denel Dynamics Mokopa, which have maximum ranges of 8,000 and 10,000 metres respectively.
The AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire used by the AH-64D/E Longbow Apache employs active millimetre-wave radar guidance, providing day/night all-weather fire-and-forget capability.
The Soviets evidently decided that laser-spot-homing was too susceptible to decoys, and instead developed laser beam-riding, although in this case miss distance increases with firing range. The leading example is the 45 kg KBP 9K121 Vikhr (Whirlwind) or AT-16, which peaks at over Mach 1.75 and has a range of 8,000 metres from a helicopter. Vikhr is carried in the two six-tube UPP-800 launchers on the Ka-50/52. It has a proximity fuze for air-air firings.
The next Russian missile in this category will be the KBP Hermes-A, a two-stage weapon that peaks at around Mach 3.0 and has a maximum range of 20,000 metres.
I Imaging Infrared
Laser spot-homing allows a specific target to be hit, but in some circumstances (for example, in urban warfare) designation may not be possible, despite the target’s general location being known. In such situations a precision attack is still possible through a combination of inertial and imaging infrared guidance. In combination with sophisticated target-recognition algorithms, IIR provides fire-and-forget capability, and allows salvo firings against multiple targets.
The leader in the IIR guidance category is the 49 kg MBDA Pars-3 LR, which has a high subsonic cruise speed (Mach 0.85) and a maximum range of 7,000 metres. It is carried on Germany’s Tiger UHT in four-round launch units in a ready-to-fire state, the sensor being permanently cooled while the aircraft is in flight. Four fully autonomous missiles can be fired in less than ten seconds. It is normally used in a lock-on before launch (Lobl) mode, but also has a predictive mode for temporarily hidden targets.
The Pars-3 LR can be fired in a direct attack profile against (for example) bunkers, but it is normally operated in an elevated (dive attack) mode against armoured vehicles. Its warhead can penetrate 1,000 mm of RHA (rolled homogeneous armour) protected by ERA (explosive reactive armour).
Full-rate production of the Pars-3 LR was launched in late 2012 by Parsys, a joint venture by MBDA Germany and Diehl BGT Defence, under a contract with Germany’s BWB procurement agency that will provide 680 rounds for the German Army.
Another relatively new development is the Spike-ER produced by Rafael in Israel. The first major anti-armour missile to use fibre-optic guidance, the Spike-ER has a range
of 8,000 metres and allows target lock-on before or after launch. It weighs 33 kg in
its transport/launch container, and has an EO/IIR dual-mode sensor, allowing day/night operation.
The Spike-ER is believed to be in service on Israeli AH-1s and Romanian IAR-330s, and has been selected for Italian Army AH-109s and Spanish Army Tiger Had. It is one
of a family of Spike missiles, providing significant commonality with ground-launched versions. Spike is also produced in Germany by EuroSpike, a joint venture by Diehl BGT Defense and Rheinmetall Defense Electronics.
In a departure from normal helicopter practice, the Ka-52 has been pictured carrying the 300 kg Tactical Missiles Kh-25 or AS-10 missile in two forms: the laser-homing Kh-25ML and the anti-radiation Kh-25MP.
Laser spot-homing allows a specific target to be hit, but in some circumstances (for example, in urban warfare) designation may not be possible, despite the target’s general location being known. In such situations a precision attack is still possible through a combination of inertial and imaging infrared guidance. In combination with sophisticated target-recognition algorithms, IIR provides fire-and-forget capability, and allows salvo firings against multiple targets.
The leader in the IIR guidance category is the 49 kg MBDA Pars-3 LR, which has a high subsonic cruise speed (Mach 0.85) and a maximum range of 7,000 metres. It is carried on Germany’s Tiger UHT in four-round launch units in a ready-to-fire state, the sensor being permanently cooled while the aircraft is in flight. Four fully autonomous missiles can be fired in less than ten seconds. It is normally used in a lock-on before launch (Lobl) mode, but also has a predictive mode for temporarily hidden targets.
The Pars-3 LR can be fired in a direct attack profile against (for example) bunkers, but it is normally operated in an elevated (dive attack) mode against armoured vehicles. Its warhead can penetrate 1,000 mm of RHA (rolled homogeneous armour) protected by ERA (explosive reactive armour).
Full-rate production of the Pars-3 LR was launched in late 2012 by Parsys, a joint venture by MBDA Germany and Diehl BGT Defence, under a contract with Germany’s BWB procurement agency that will provide 680 rounds for the German Army.
Another relatively new development is the Spike-ER produced by Rafael in Israel. The first major anti-armour missile to use fibre-optic guidance, the Spike-ER has a range
of 8,000 metres and allows target lock-on before or after launch. It weighs 33 kg in
its transport/launch container, and has an EO/IIR dual-mode sensor, allowing day/night operation.
The Spike-ER is believed to be in service on Israeli AH-1s and Romanian IAR-330s, and has been selected for Italian Army AH-109s and Spanish Army Tiger Had. It is one
of a family of Spike missiles, providing significant commonality with ground-launched versions. Spike is also produced in Germany by EuroSpike, a joint venture by Diehl BGT Defense and Rheinmetall Defense Electronics.
In a departure from normal helicopter practice, the Ka-52 has been pictured carrying the 300 kg Tactical Missiles Kh-25 or AS-10 missile in two forms: the laser-homing Kh-25ML and the anti-radiation Kh-25MP.
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