Posted: 9/24/2008 7:07:24 AM EDT
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Linky Apaches On The Block September 18, 2008: South Korea is being offered 36 refurbished U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships, rebuilt to like-new condition, for about $23 million each. That's a nearly 60 percent discount off the price of new AH-64s. These helicopters would have a useful life of about 10,000 hours in the air. The U.S. Army is planning to offer a total of 260 older AH-64s to allies via similar deals, or even an auction, if too many nations say yes. The AH-64 has compiled an impressive combat record, and gone through several upgrades. The current version, which South Korea is being offered, is an all weather aircraft that is particularly effective at night. The U.S. Army has over 700 Apache (AH-64) helicopter gunships in service, out of about 1,100 built. The ten ton aircraft basically provides the close air support. Unlike jet fighters, the Apache only has a max speed of 360 kilometers an hour. But usual speed is much slower, from the cruising speed of about 280 kilometers an hour to a dead stop, while still in the air. The average sortie for an AH-64 lasts about 90 minutes, when just using internal fuel (that can be tripled with the maximum of four external tanks). Typically, AH-64s in combat will fly up to half a dozen sorties a day, often taking on additional ammo when they land to refuel. The Apache is a Cold War era weapon, designed in the 1970s for seeking out and killing armored vehicles on the battlefield. It has been good at that and carries up to 16 Hellfire missiles and a 30mm automatic (ten rounds a second) cannon with 1200 rounds of armor piercing ammo. The Apaches are operated by a pilot and weapons systems operator. Eventually, all of the U.S. Army's Apache's will be equipped with the Longbow radar and sensor equipment that enables the gunship to find and attack ground targets at night and in bad weather. Entering service in the early 1980s, the Apache did an excellent job during the 1991 Gulf War. So far, the U.S. AH-64 fleet has spent over two million hours in the air, with nearly 600,000 of those hours flown since September 11, 2001. The U.S. Army does not need all the AH-64s that it has, partly because of the proliferation of precision weapons (smart bombs and GPS guided shells and rockets), and the high cost of operating attack helicopters. Thus the need to unload hundreds of older AH-64s. I'm not sure if I like this. With things being like they are with potential issues arising with Iran, CHina, and even Russia, I'm kind of thinking that having all the Apaches we can fly would be a good thing rather than selling them cheap to other countries. -K |
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North Korea has approxamately 3500 tanks all together. Let's assume the outrageously optimistic number of 90% being battle ready. That is 3150 tanks ready to roll. 36 Apaches. Let's assume the pessimistic number of 80% able to fly. That is 28 to 29 birds in the air. Let's call it 28. 28 birds x 16 Hellfires each is 448 missiles. Let's assume a 95% function rate for the missiles. That is 425 functional missiles in the air at once. Let's assume that every 90 minutes the Apaches expend their ordnance, then RTB for refuel and re-arm, which should take about 30 minutes. It is reasonable to assume that they will fully expend all their ordnance in a 90 minute flight given that the North would have to throw everything it had in a southward blitzkrieg in order to win. It is also reasonable to assume given the topography and narrowness of the isthmus that is Korea. 425 pieces of enemy armor will be destroyed or disabled every two hours, or 212 vehicles per hour. 3150 tanks destroyed at a conservative 200 per hour means that by 16 hours of battle, nothing is left of the North's armor. Assuming a dawn raid at 0400 local, by 2000 local, the North's military is done, and done in by 28 second hand helicopters. Now this is an unreasonable way to apply that particular aircraft, and things would certainly be over at a different rate of speed, but it does serve to illustrate just how effective a handful of antique aircraft can be against an army well suited to fight in 1945. |