The AH-64 Apache Helicopter Monstrous Power & Capability

[Music] [Music] the apache helicopter is a revolutionary development in the history of war it's essentially a flying tank a helicopter designed to survive heavy attack and inflict massive damage it can zero in on specific targets day or night even in terrible weather as you might expect it is a terrifying machine to ground forces in this video we'll look at apaches amazing flight systems weapon systems sensor systems and armor systems individually these components are remarkable pieces of technology combined together they make up an unbelievable fighting machine the most lethal helicopter ever created at its core an apache works pretty much the same way as any other helicopter it has two rotors that spin several blades a blade is a tilted airfoil just like an airplane as it speeds through the air each blade generates lift the main rotor attached to the top of the helicopter spins four 20 foot six meter blades the pilot maneuvers the helicopter by adjusting a swashplate mechanism the swash plate changes each blade's pitch tilt to increase lift adjusting the pitch equally for all blades lifts the helicopter straight up and down changing the pitch as the blades make their way around the rotation cycle creates uneven lift causing the helicopter to tilt and fly in a particular direction [Music] apache rotors and blades as the main rotor spins it exerts a rotation force on the entire helicopter the rear rotor blades work against this force they push the tail boom in the opposite direction by changing the pitch of the rear blades the pilot can rotate the helicopter in either direction or keep it from turning at all an apache has double tail rotors each with two blades the newest apache sports twin general electric t700 ge701c turboshaft engines boasting about 1 700 horsepower each each engine turns a driveshaft which is connected to a simple gearbox the gearbox shifts the angle of rotation about 90 degrees and passes the power onto the transmission the transmission transmits the power to the main rotor assembly and a long shaft leading to the tail rotor the rotor is optimized to provide much greater agility than you find in a typical helicopter the core structure of each blade consists of five stainless steel arms called spars which are surrounded by a fiberglass skeleton the trailing edge of each blade is covered with a sturdy graphite composite material while the leading edge is made of titanium the titanium is strong enough to withstand brushes with trees and other minor obstacles which is helpful in the nap of the earth flying zipping along just above the contours of the ground apaches need to fly this way to sneak up on targets and to avoid attack the rear tail wing helps stabilize the helicopter during nap of the earth flight as well as during hovering you could say based on all this information that the apache is just a high-end helicopter as we'll see in the next few sections the apaches advanced weaponry puts it in an entirely different class apache hellfire missiles the apaches chief function is to take out heavily armored ground targets such as tanks and bunkers to inflict this kind of damage you need some heavy firepower and to do it from a helicopter you need an extremely sophisticated targeting system the apaches primary weapon the hellfire missile meets these demands each missile is a miniature aircraft complete with its own guidance computer steering control and propulsion system the payload is a high explosive copper line charge warhead powerful enough to burn through the heaviest tank armor in existence the apache carries the missiles on four firing rails attached to pylons mounted to its wings there are two pylons on each wing and each pylon can support four missiles so the apache can carry as many as 16 missiles at a time before launching each missile receives instructions directly from the helicopter's computer when the computer transmits the fire signal the missile sets off the propellant once the burning propellant generates about 500 pounds of force the missile breaks free of the rail as the missile speeds up the force of acceleration triggers the arming mechanism when the missile makes contact with the target an impact sensor sets off the warhead the original hellfire design uses a laser guidance system to hit its mark in this system the apache gunner aims a high intensity laser beam at the target in some situations ground forces might operate the laser instead the laser pulses on and off in a particular coated pattern before giving the firing signal the apache computer tells the missile's control system the specific pulse pattern of the laser the missile has a laser seeker on its nose that detects the laser light reflecting off the target in this way the missile can see where the target is the guidance system calculates which way the missile needs to turn in order to head straight for the reflected laser light to change course the guidance system moves the missile's flight pins this is basically the same way in airplane steers the laser guided hellfire system is highly effective but it has some significant drawbacks cloud cover or obstacles can block the laser beam so it never makes it to the target if the missile passes through a cloud it can lose sight of the target the helicopter or a ground targeting crew has to keep the laser fixed on the target until the missile makes contact this means the helicopter's got to be out in the open vulnerable to attack the hellfire 2 used in apache longbow helicopters corrects these flaws instead of laser seeking system the missile has a radar seeker the helicopter's radar locates the target and the missiles zero in on it since radio waves aren't obscured by clouds or obstacles the missile is more likely to find its target since it doesn't have to keep the laser focused on the target the helicopter can fire the missile and immediately find cover we'll look at the apaches rockets next apache rockets and chain gun [Music] apaches usually fly with two hydra rocket launchers in place of two of the hellfire missile sets each rocket launcher carries 19 folding fin 2.75 inch aerial rockets secured in launching tubes to fire the rockets the launcher triggers an igniter at the rear end of the tube the apache gunner can fire one rocket at a time or launch them in groups the flight fins unfold to stabilize the rocket once it leaves the launcher the rockets work with a variety of warhead designs for example they might be armed with high power explosives or just smoke producing materials in one configuration the warhead delivers several submunitions small bombs that separate from the rocket in the air and fall on targets below the gunner engages close range targets with an m230 30 millimeter automatic cannon attached to a turret under the helicopter's nose the gunner aims the gun using a sophisticated computer system in the cockpit the computer controls hydraulics that swing the turret from side to side and up and down the automatic cannon is a chain gun design powered by an electric motor the motor rotates the chain which slides the bolt assembly back and forth to load fire extract and eject cartridges this is different from an ordinary machine gun which uses the force of the cartridge explosion or flying bullet to move the bolt the cartridge travels from a magazine above the gun down a feed chute to the chamber the magazine holds a maximum of 1200 rounds and the gun can fire 600 to 650 rounds a minute the cannon fires high explosive rounds designed to pierce light armor in the next section we'll look at the targeting system for the canon as well as other major apache controls apache controls the apache cockpit is divided into two sections one directly behind the other the pilots sit in the rear section and the co-pilot gunner sits in the front section as you might expect the pilot maneuvers the helicopter and the gunner aims and fires the weapons both sections of the cockpit include flight and firing controls in case one pilot needs to take over full operation the pilot flies the apache using collective and cyclic controls similar to ones you would find in any other helicopter the controls manipulate the rotors using both a mechanical hydraulic system and a digital stabilization system the digital stabilization system fine-tunes the powerful hydraulic system to keep the helicopter flying smoothly the stabilization system can also keep the helicopter in an automatic hovering position for short periods of time on the longbow apache three display panels provide the pilot with most navigational and flight information these digital displays are much easier to read than traditional instrument dials the pilot simply presses buttons on the side of the display to find the information he or she needs we'll look at the apache sensor equipment next apache sensors one of the coolest things about the apache is its sophisticated sensor equipment the longbow apache detects surrounding ground forces aircraft and buildings using a radar dome mounted to the mast the radar dome uses millimeter radio waves that can make out the shape of anything in range the radar signal processor compares these shapes to a database of tanks trucks other aircraft and equipment to identify the class of each potential target the computer pinpoints these targets on the pilots and gunners displays the pilot and the gunner both use night vision sensors for night operations the night vision sensors work on the forward-looking infrared flir system which detects the infrared light released by heated objects the pilot's night vision sensor is attached to a rotating turret on top of the apache's nose the gunner's night vision sensor is attached to a separate turret on the underside of the nose the lower turret also supports a normal video camera and a telescope which the gunner uses during the day the computer transmits the night vision or video picture to a small display unit in each pilot's helmet the video display projects the image onto a monocular lens in front of the pilot's right eye infrared sensors in the cockpit track how the pilot positions the helmet and relay this information to the turret control system each pilot can aim the sensors by simply moving his or her head each pilot can aim the sensors simply by moving his or her head manual controls are also available of course next let's look at a few of the systems that protect the pilot and gunner during battle the apaches first line of defense against attack is keeping out of range as we saw earlier the helicopter is specifically designed to fly low to the ground hiding behind cover whenever possible the apache is also designed to evade enemy radar scanning if the pilots pick up radar signals with the onboard scanner they can activate a radar jammer to confuse the enemy the apache is also designed to evade heat-seeking missiles by reducing its infrared signature the heat energy it releases the black hole infrared suppression system dissipates the heat of the engine exhaust by mixing it with air flowing around the helicopter the cooled exhaust then passes through a special filter which absorbs more heat the longbow also has an infrared jammer which generates infrared energy of varying frequencies to confuse heat-seeking missiles the apache is heavily armored on all sides some areas are also surrounded by kevlar soft armor for extra protection the cockpit is protected by layers of reinforced armor and bulletproof glass according to boeing every part of the helicopter can survive 12.7 millimeter rounds and vital engine and rotor components can withstand 23 millimeter fire the area surrounding the cockpit is designed to deform during collision but the cockpit's canopy is extremely rigid in a crash the deformation areas work like the crumble zones in a car they absorb a lot of the impact force so the collision isn't as hard on the crew the pilot and gunner seats are outfitted with heavy kevlar armor which also absorbs the force of impact with these advanced systems the crew has an excellent chance of surviving a crash flying an apache into battle is extremely dangerous to be sure but with all its weapons armor and sensor equipment it's a formidable opponent to almost everything else on the battlefield it's a deadly combination of strength agility and firepower

Channel: Military TV

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Rating: 4.8133254 out of 5

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Id: XIdhBEXbWyA

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 01 2019