During the Vietnam War fleets of transport helicopters provided U.S. forces with an unprecented level of mobility and proved the concept of air cavalry . But without adequate support, helicopters such as the Bell UH-1 proved vulnerable to enemy ground fire. The solution was to develop a helicopter gunship. Bell s first foray into the category was rejected by the Army, but after Lockheed s AH-56 failed to meet critical goals, Bell answered the call with a new design. Equipped with a tandem cockpit, stub wings for weapons and a chin-mounted gun turret, Bell s Model 209 protoype was smaller and...

Developed and deployed in a short time due to the pressure of the Vietnam War, Bell's AH-1 Cobra performed well; but Army planners believed a better attack helicopter would be needed in the next war. In 1976, Hughes Helicopter's YAH-64A prototype bested the Cobra in firepower, performance and range, and won the competition to replace it. It would be 1982 before production commenced, but eventually over 1100 would be produced including the advanced AH-64D Apache Longbow. Dubbed the Apache, the AH-64 is a four- blade, twin-engine, tandem-cockpit design with tailwheel landing gear. The AH-64...

Designed to replace the Redstone, the Pershing I, Ia and II missiles served for three decades as the U.S. Army's primary nuclear-capable, theater-level weapon. A solid-fueled, two-stage missile capable of Mach 8.0 flight, Pershing I first flew in 1960. Three years later, three missile battalions deployed to West Germany. Pershing I's solid-fueled design offered much greater flexibility and safety than Redstone, and much faster launch response. While Redstone required up to twenty fuel and support vehicles, the Pershing system featured only four. The most important was the transport erector...

Designed to replace the Redstone, the Pershing I, 1a and II missiles served for three decades as the U.S. Army's primary nuclear-capable, theater-level weapon. A solid-fueled, two-stage missile capable of Mach 8.0 flight, Pershing I first flew in 1960. Three years later, three missile battalions deployed to West Germany. Pershing I's solid-fueled design offered much greater flexibility and safety than Redstone, and much faster launch response. While Redstone required up to twenty fuel and support vehicles, the Pershing system featured only four. The most important was the transport erector...