History and Evolution of the Helicopter as used by Armed Forces from WWII to present
...p, and started to become a defense weapon, instead of a rescue and transportation vehicle. However, further improvements, more missions, and a continued evolution of roles was just beyond the horizon for the helicopter. In April of 1962, the first helicopters made their way into Vietnam; these helicopters while still for rescue were the first of a new breed the UH-1As, better known as “Hueys.” These Hueys soon rapidly evolved to become one of the most significant helicopters in history7. By October of 1962 U.S. forces equipped these helicopters with M-60 machine guns, and experiments for a new attack helicopter began. The UH-1A quickly evolved into the UH-34 “stingers,” an experiment by the US Marines to find a new means of troop transportation. The stingers were equipped with two forward facing M-60s and two forward facing rocket pods, and even though the sighting systems were still very primitive, with practice pilots were able to become fairly accurate. The four experimental stingers were all used by the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362 (HHM-362), and while they had many limitations they were still used extensively. The main reason for their success was their ability to move troops further into enemy territory. The Hueys had quickly become a symbol of the US armed forces for US television viewers back home. The helicopter had moved from a little known experiment to a symbol of US armed force superiority and it was still just the tip of the iceberg for what was to come. In 1964 the United States had began to realize the potential of the helicopter as a gunship, and the US army’s Advanced Ariel Fire Support System (AAFSS) program began. That same year the first competition for a gunship began with the Lockheed AH-56 “Cheyenne” being victorious. However this copter never saw the battlefield because during its testing and production time another helicopter had already proven its success in Vietnam. The AH-1G “Huey Cobra” grew from the lessons learned by limitations of modified rescue helicopters like the UH-34s. The Huey Cobras used a slim body, tandem seating, wings to store weapons, and rotating nose cannon. This “new” design was without a doubt for one purpose: destruction. This was not the normal helicopter of a few years prior that would carry cargo and troops and occasionally destroy a target. The cobra was an attack helicopter that was breed to kill. The Cobra was able to destroy targets with accuracy, and most importantly able to provide adequate support of rescue copters during evacuation missions. The cobras went into use in 1967 and they never looked back8. This new design lead the helicopter into an era where their use as a weapon would become as, or more, important than their use for rescue missions. By March of 1970 more than 3,900 helicopters were being used in Vietnam, two-thirds of these helicopters were Hueys, and Helicopters transported 90% of battlefield injuries during this time9. However, the helicopter was still far from perfect as nearly 5,000 US helicopters were lost during the Vietnam War, nearly half of these occurred from operation errors or breakdowns. The other half showed that this powerful weapon was still extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, especially when it was a stationary target during loading and unloading of troops10. However plans were already underway to continue to learn from the mistakes of previous helicopters, and become more powerful and useful with each succeeding design. During this time Russia began work on its own attack helicopter. The Russian army didn’t want just another transport helicopter; they were looking for an aerial weapon with a destructive force equal to that of the tank. Russia wanted its answer to the Huey Cobra currently in use by the United States. Their answer to this challenge was the Mil Mi-24, powerful gunship with heavy armor, an independently rotating machine gun, up to four rocket pods under the wings, and the room to carry eight battle-ready soldiers. It is also one of the fastest attack helicopters in the world with a top speed of 322KM/hour, more than double the speed of the Huey Cobra. The Mi-24 saw battle in Afghanistan and the African war and, like American helicopters, was also purchased by many other countries. The Mil company has since gone on to become one of the top helicopter manufactures in the world, with more than 30,000 built from 1947-199911. The helicopter was now moving out of the United States and beginning to be noticed by the rest of the world. By the late 1960s the helicopter had become a must have by the world’s powers, and had become a powerful antitank weapon, thanks to the invention of the TOW (tube-launched, optically tracked, wire command- link guided) weapons system. The TOW missile was an important invention for the gunship helicopters, because now they could sneak up and destroy targets usually before being seen12. With much of the world becoming adapted to the helicopter, the US Army decided to stay one step ahead and started the AAH (advanced attack helicopter) program. The AAH program was to find a new type of attack helicopter, and it held a competition in 1972 for a new helicopter design. The winner was the Huges AH-64 “Apache,” an attack helicopter that along with some new weapons set a new standard of aerial assault, as the helicopter added yet another role to its rapidly growing list of abilities. The apache was designed to fight during day, night, or difficult weather, and can attack targets using a variety of weapons, and sighting systems. It first saw battle during Operation Just Cause in 1989, and it also served in the liberation of Kuwait, operation Desert Storm, the Gulf War, in Bosnia, during operation Allied Force, and many other small operations. During the liberation of Kuwait the AH-64 destroyed 245 enemy vehicles without a single AH-64 being destroyed. The apache played a key role during Desert Storm where the 10...