The United States Marine Corps has a long and proud history of operating helicopters and developing, and implementing helicopter tactics. The Marines began developing helicopter assault tactics after WWII. In the Korean and Vietnam Wars, they put their theories to the test, improving what worked and altering or discarding what didn’t.
The Marine Corps of today is a highly effective, highly mobile fighting force. They owe a great deal of their mobility to helicopters and the Marine aviators who developed and perfected present day tactics.
The Marines use a variety of helicopters to perform their mission. One of them is the Bell AH-1 Cobra.
The current Cobra, the AH-1Z, derives from a long line of Cobras that began with its introduction in the mid 1960’s. In the early days of Vietnam, another Bell design, the UH-1 Huey, was making a name for itself in the rice paddies, jungles, mountains and river deltas of Southeast Asia. The Huey was used to insert and extract troops. It became evident that an armed helicopter was needed to escort troop carrying helicopters (commonly called slicks) into landing zones were resistance was expected. Initially, this role fell to UH-1 Hueys modified to carry rocket and gun pods. The Huey was not a purpose built gunship. It lacked sophistication especially in its targeting system, which consisted of grease pencil drawn crosshairs on the windscreen.
The Cobra was the first purpose built gunship to enter production. It immediately made its presence felt. It’s ability to accurately target and engage enemy forces made it an ideal platform for operations in the varied environments of Vietnam.
The Marine Corps version of the Cobra was the AH-1J Sea Cobra. It had two engines, which provided an extra layer of redundancy when operating from naval vessels.
The Marines currently operate a mix of AH-1W “Whisky” Model Cobras and AH-1Z Vipers. The Whisky models were sought because earlier models were not navalized (built to withstand the harsh, damaging, and corrosive effects of the salt water/salt air environment.)
The AH-1W is able to operate day or night in marginal weather. Some of its missions include armed escort, armed reconnaissance, target identification and marking, and anti-armor warfare.
The AH-1Z improves on the AH-1W by adding a four bladed rotor system in place of the two bladed system used on previous models. This increases flight performance and expands the performance envelope of the helicopter. In addition the aircraft will receive a new night targeting system and a cockpit upgrade to improve situational awareness and reduce pilot workload. The AH-1Z upgrade is expected to be completed in 2013. The Marine Corps plans to upgrade 190 Cobras to the AH-1Z standard.
The Cobra has been in operation with the Marine Corps since the mid 1960’s and will remain in operation for the foreseeable future. Its longevity is a testament to the design and engineering team at Bell in concert with the Marine aviators that fly and fight it.
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