The Boeing AH-64 Apache is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vision. It carries a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 chain gun under its forward fuselage and four hardpoints on stub-wing pylons for armament and stores, typically AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. Redundant systems help it survive combat damage.
Boeing AH-64 Apache
An early Hughes YAH-64 prototype with T-tail
A YAH-64A prototype in 1982
A YAH-64A in 1984
An attack helicopter is an armed helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the offensive capability of engaging ground targets such as enemy infantry, military vehicles and fortifications. Due to their heavy armament they are sometimes called helicopter gunships.
A British AgustaWestland Apache helicopter fires rockets at insurgents in Afghanistan, June 2008.
Designed as a transport helicopter, the Mil Mi-4 was in some cases armed as with the Mi-4MU variant.
UH-1N armed with minigun and rocket pods
AH-56 Cheyenne prototype