Early examples include armed Sikorsky H-34s in service with the US Air Force and armed Mil Mi-4 in service with the Soviet Air Forces. Later on it was realised that these helicopters, successors to the World War II-era Sikorsky R-4, could be armed with weapons in order to provide them with limited combat capability. In the early 1950s, various countries around the world started to make increased use of helicopters in their operations in transport and liaison roles. His L-4, bearing US Army serial number 43-30426 and named Rosie the Rocketer, armed with six bazookas, had a notable anti-armor success during an engagement during the Battle of Arracourt on September 20, 1944, employing top attack tactics in knocking out at least four German armored vehicles, as a pioneering example of taking on heavy enemy armor from a slow-flying aircraft. Army Major Charles Carpenter managed to successfully take on an anti-armor role with his rocket-armed Piper L-4. Army artillery spotter units over France these aircraft were field-outfitted with either two or four bazooka rocket launchers attached to the lift struts, against German armored fighting vehicles. Following Operation Overlord in 1944, the military version of the similarly slow-flying Piper J-3 Cub high-wing civilian monoplane, the L-4 Grasshopper, begun to be used in a light anti-armor role by a few U.S. Low-speed, fixed wing Allied aircraft like the Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 training and utility biplane had been used as early as 1942 to provide night harassment attack capability against the Wehrmacht Heer on the Eastern Front, most effectively in the Battle of the Caucasus as exemplified by the Night Witches all-female Soviet air unit.
In combat, an attack helicopter is projected to destroy targets worth around 17 times its own production cost before being destroyed. Attack helicopters are also used as protective escort for transport helicopters, or to supplement lighter helicopters in the armed reconnaissance roles. Some attack helicopters are also capable of carrying air-to-air missiles, though mostly for purposes of self-defense against other helicopters and low-flying light combat aircraft.Ī modern attack helicopter has two primary roles: first, to provide direct and accurate close air support for ground troops and second, the anti-tank role to destroy grouped enemy armor. Due to their heavy armament they are sometimes called helicopter gunships.Īttack helicopters can use weapons including autocannons, machine guns, rockets, and anti-tank missiles such as the AGM-114 Hellfire. A British AgustaWestland Apache helicopter fires rockets at insurgents in Afghanistan, 2008.Īn 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.
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