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NOTE: This article is about the Apache AH-1 attack helicopter used by British forces in ArmA 2: BAF. For AH-1 Cobra gunships used by U.S. forces in ArmA: CWA, see AH-1 Cobra. |
The Apache AH-1 is a heavy attack helicopter used exclusively by the British Army in ArmA 2. It was added with the release of the British Armed Forces DLC.
Overview[]
- Role:
- Heavy gunship
| « | The Apache AH Mk1 is a licence-built version of the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter for the British Army. It is a four-blade, two-seat, twin-engine attack helicopter. The Apache is armed with a 30mm M230 Chain Gun and with AGM-114 Hellfire and Hydra 70 rocket pods. Armoury Description
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Design[]
The Apache is a derivative of the AH-64D helicopter gunship used by the U.S. Army. Custom-built to meet the specific requirements of the British military, the Apache can conduct precision attacks, armed reconnaissance, and provide close air support.
Armament
By default, the Apache is armed with a 30 mm chain gun mounted beneath the nose of the cockpit. Its other armament consists of twin 70 mm rocket pods and infrared-guided, air-to-ground anti-tank guided missiles; both of which are carried on stub wing pylons attached to both sides of the airframe.[CfgVh 6]
The Apache always carries 8 Hellfire ATGMs for use against Main Battle Tanks, while the M230 chain gun feeds from a single 1,200-round linked belt loaded with high-explosive dual purpose (HEDP) shells.[CfgVh 5]
Each of the CRV-7 rocket pods are loaded with specific munitions: one pod fires rockets fitted with flechette anti-tank (FAT) warheads, while the other is loaded to fire rockets fitted with high-explosive point detonating (HEPD) warheads. Each pod contains 19 rockets for a combined total of 38 rockets.[CfgVh 4][CfgVh 7]
Features
When it comes to handling, avionics, and armament, the Apache is virtually identical to its American counterpart. And like the AH-64D, the Apache serves as the heavier counterpart to lighter gunships in the British Army's fleet of helicopters; in this case, it supplements the AH-11 Wildcat in the anti-armour role.
Though it is incapable of transporting passengers into battle, the Apache compensates for this by being better protected against small arms fire.[CfgVh 8] It can even withstand a limited amount of punishment from heavier anti-aircraft weapons like the Russian-made ZU-23, though obviously this doesn't mean that the Apache will emerge unscathed every time (it will still take severe damage if it is struck by more than a few shells).
Crew Capacity
The Apache has a maximum seating capacity for a crew of two that consists of the pilot and the gunner. It is unable to transport any passengers.
Protection[]
The Apache has a base armour value of 60.[CfgVh 8]
LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engines
Maroon = Instruments/FCR dome
Yellow = Main rotor
Dark blue = Tail rotor
Hull[]
The Apache's hull can withstand up to 60 points of damage.[CfgVh 9][Formula 1] Depletion of its integrity will always result in a total loss.[CfgVh 10]
Engines[]
The Apache's engines can only take a maximum of 15 points of damage before they fail.[CfgVh 11][Formula 2] 100% of incoming damage to either engine will always be shared with the helicopter's main "health" pool. Destroying the engines has the potential to result in the helicopter's destruction if it is at or near critical "health" status.[CfgVh 12]
Instruments[]
The cockpit's flight instruments and the Fire Control Radar dome are able to take only 9 points of damage before they fail.[CfgVh 13][Formula 3] 100% of incoming damage will always be shared with the Apache's main "health" pool. Destruction of the instruments/FCR dome also has the potential to cause the helicopter to explode if it is at critical "health" status.[CfgVh 14]
Main rotor[]
The main rotor can only withstand a maximum of 18 points of damage before it fails.[CfgVh 15][Formula 4] 30% of incoming damage will always be shared with the Apache's main "health" pool. Destroying the main rotors will not cause a total loss by itself. However, it is possible for this to happen if the Apache is at critical "health" status.[CfgVh 16]
Tail rotor[]
The tail rotor is only able to take 12 points of damage before it fails.[CfgVh 17][Formula 5] Only 10% of incoming damage will be shared with the helicopter's main "health" pool. However, it is possible for the Apache to explode catastrophically if it is at critical "health" status at the time of the tail rotor's destruction.[CfgVh 18]
Armament[]
The Apache's pilot controls the CRV7-HEPD/CRV7-FAT rocket pods[CfgVh 6] while the gunner handles the turret-mounted M230 30 mm chain gun and AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank guided missiles:[CfgVh 4]
M230[]
| Ammo parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage value | 67[CfgAm 1][CfgAm 2][note 1] |
| Splash damage value | 15[CfgAm 3] |
| Damage type | Armour Piercing + High-Explosive |
| Aerodynamic friction | -0.00078[CfgAm 4] |
| Muzzle velocity (m/s) | 805[CfgMa 1] |
| Expected velocity (m/s) | 900[CfgAm 5][note 2] |
General-purpose 30 mm chain gun. Fires high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) shells.[CfgAm 2][note 1]
It can attain a fire rate of up to 625 RPM[CfgWp 1][Formula 6] and has a muzzle velocity of 805 m/s.[CfgMa 1] Accuracy-wise, the M230 has a dispersion of 0.002 rad.[CfgWp 2] The shells have a blast radius of 1 metre.[CfgAm 6]
Manual zeroing is available, starting from a minimum of 100 metres up to a maximum of 1,500 metres (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500).[CfgVh 19] By default, it utilises a zeroing of 600 metres.[CfgVh 20] The gun turret can be rotated in any direction horizontally up to a maximum of 120 degrees.[CfgVh 21][CfgVh 22] Vertical limits are restricted to a depression of 60 degrees[CfgVh 23] and an elevation of just 11 degrees.[CfgVh 24]
AGM-114 Hellfire[]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage value | 800[CfgAm 7] |
| Splash damage value | 20[CfgAm 8] |
| Warhead type | High-Explosive Anti-Tank |
| Blast radius (metres) | 2[CfgAm 9] |
| Launch velocity (m/s) | 0[CfgMa 2] |
| Maximum speed (m/s) | 425[CfgAm 10] |
Air-to-ground anti-tank missiles. Can lock-on via infrared-guidance[CfgAm 11] or laser lock-on.[CfgAm 12][CfgAm 13][note 3]
There is a forced delay of 1 second between missile launches.[CfgWp 3] Hellfire missiles are always soft launched.[CfgMa 2] They need at least 3.25 seconds[CfgAm 14] of flight time to be able to attain a top speed of up to 425 m/s.[CfgAm 10] The missile's warhead has a blast radius of 2 metres.[CfgAm 9]
If the Hellfire is locking on via infrared, smoke-based countermeasures have a 20% chance to temporarily prevent a lock-on.[CfgWp 4] If the Hellfire has already locked onto a target and is flying towards its target, there is also a 20% chance that the missile's seeker will lose lock to smoke countermeasures.[CfgAm 15]
CRV7-HEPD[]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage value | 850[CfgAm 16] |
| Splash damage value | 100[CfgAm 17] |
| Warhead type | High-Explosive |
| Blast radius (metres) | 10[CfgAm 18] |
| Launch velocity (m/s) | 1[CfgMa 3] |
| Maximum speed (m/s) | 720[CfgAm 19] |
Unguided air-to-ground rockets. Fires rockets fitted with high-explosive point detonating (HE) warheads.
The pod has a firing delay of 0.9 seconds between launches[CfgWp 5] (~ 66 RPM[Formula 7]). The only fires one rocket per volley.[CfgWp 6] They are always fired with an initial velocity of 1 m/s[CfgMa 3] but can attain a top speed of up to 720 m/s[CfgAm 19] after just 1 second[CfgAm 20] of flight time. The warheads have a blast radius of 10 metres.[CfgAm 18]
It should be noted that even though CRV7-HEPD rockets can be "locked" onto ground vehicles[CfgWp 7][CfgWp 8], it is not actually a guided weapon and the rockets will not automatically home in towards locked targets.[note 4]
CRV7-FAT[]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage value | 550[CfgAm 21] |
| Splash damage value | 20[CfgAm 22] |
| Warhead type | High-Explosive |
| Blast radius (metres) | 2[CfgAm 23] |
| Launch velocity (m/s) | 1[CfgMa 4] |
| Maximum speed (m/s) | 720[CfgAm 24] |
Unguided air-to-ground rockets. Fires rockets fitted with flechette anti-tank (FAT) warheads.
The pod has a firing delay of 0.9 seconds between launches[CfgWp 9] (~ 66 RPM[Formula 8]). The only fires one rocket per volley.[CfgWp 10] They are always fired with an initial velocity of 1 m/s[CfgMa 4] but can attain a top speed of up to 720 m/s[CfgAm 24] after just 1 second[CfgAm 25] of flight time. The warheads have a blast radius of only 2 metres.[CfgAm 23]
It should be noted that even though CRV7-FAT rockets can be "locked" onto ground vehicles[CfgWp 11][CfgWp 12], it is not actually a guided weapon and the rockets will not automatically home in towards locked targets.[note 5]
Optics[]
Gunner[]
The gunner is the only crewman that has access to magnified optics. The turret's gunsight can switch between three fields-of-view: Wide (0.85x)[CfgVh 25][CfgVh 26][Formula 9], Medium (4.3x)[CfgVh 27][CfgVh 28][Formula 10], and Narrow (13.79x).[CfgVh 29][CfgVh 30][Formula 11]
The gunsight can toggle three vision modes: day, night, and black-/green-hot thermal vision.[CfgVh 31][CfgVh 32] A laser rangefinder is also available.[CfgVh 33]
Avionics[]
MAWS[]
The Apache is equipped with Missile Approach Warning System. The MAWS will warn the helicopter's crew if there are missiles that have successfully locked onto it and are inbound.[CfgVh 34]
RWR[]
The Apache is fitted with a Radar Warning Receiver. The RWR will alert the crew whenever they are being locked onto by a radar-based targeting system.[CfgVh 35]
IWR[]
The Apache does not have access to an Infrared Warning Receiver. The crew will not be alerted if an infrared-based targeting system is attempting to lock onto the helicopter.[CfgVh 35]
LWR[]
The Apache is equipped with a Laser Warning Receiver that will alert the crew whenever they are being locked onto by a laser-based targeting system.[CfgVh 35]
Trivia[]
- Real-world AH-1s have modified avionics and are visually different to their American counterpart, though ArmA 2's AH-1 has virtually no differences to the AH-64D used by the in-game USMC/U.S. Army factions aside from the CRV-7 rocket pods.[1]
- For unknown reasons, the AH-1 can carry two less weapons than the AH-64D (18) but can store eighty more magazines (180) in its cargo inventory than the AH-64D.
- When the BAF DLC was first released, the gunner and pilot's Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD) would not display readings properly. This was fixed after the release of Patch 1.02.[2]
- Prior to the latest Steam version patches, the CRV-7's FAT rockets had a 10 metre blast radius despite being an anti-armour payload with minimal splash in reality. This was refactored with CorePatch, which properly corrected it to only 2 metres while its initial 10 metre blast radius was given to the HEPD rockets.[3]
- CorePatch also adjusted the Apache's loadout so that its rocket pods are now exclusively controlled by the pilot as opposed to the gunner. CorePatch similarly increased the rocket count for both CRV7-HEPD and CRV7-FAT from six up to nineteen each for thirty-eight in total.[3]
Gallery[]
Config/script references[]
CfgAmmo
CfgMagazinesCfgWeapons
CfgVehicles
Formulae
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Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Due to its explosive coefficient of 0.3, the M230 chain gun's HEDP shells inflict 70% kinetic damage and only 30% explosive damage.
- ↑ Damage will be reduced if the projectile's velocity drops below this value.
- ↑ If available, the AGM-114 Hellfire can be detected by the target's Laser Warning Receiver (LWR) during lock-on and its Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) while inbound towards it.
- ↑ If available, the CRV7-HEDP can be detected by the target's Laser Warning Receiver (LWR) if the pilot "locks" onto the vehicle rather than firing without a lock-on (despite the CRV7-HEPD not being a true guided munition).
- ↑ If available, the CRV7-FAT can be detected by the target's Laser Warning Receiver (LWR) if the pilot "locks" onto the vehicle rather than firing without a lock-on (despite the CRV7-FAT not being a true guided munition).
References[]
- ↑ Krishna 2013, Apache AH Mk1 Attack Helicopter, Army-technology.com, viewed 19 July 2024, <https://www.army-technology.com/projects/apache-ah-mk1-attack-helicopter/>.
- ↑ Foltyn, D et al. 2010, Arma 2: British Armed Forces: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 4 February 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_2:_British_Armed_Forces:_Version_History#Version_1.02>.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mazzon, M et al. 2019, CorePatch, GitHub, viewed 4 February 2024, <https://github.com/Goliath86/CorePatch/blob/master/Changelog.txt>.
External links[]
See also[]
Aircraft of comparable role and configuration[]
 British Army - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
| |
|---|---|
| Wheeled | ATV • Jackal 2 MWMIK • Military Offroad • MTVR |
| Tracked | FV510 Warrior |
| Rotor-wing | Apache AH-1 • AH-11 Wildcat • Chinook HC4 • Merlin HC3 |
| (Parenthesis) denote variants. Operation Arrowhead | British Armed Forces | |