The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on October 22, 2020, 12:18:37 pm
-
Marine Corps says goodbye to the Super Cobra
Philip Athey
The AH-1W Super Cobra participates in a final flight during the Whiskey Sundown Ceremony at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans, on Oct. 14. (Lance Cpl. Christopher England/Marine Corps)
With its final flight over the New Orleans skyline, the Corps said goodbye to the historic AH-1W Super Cobra after 34 years of service as the Corps' go-to attack helicopter.
The first Super Cobras were deliver to the Corps on March 27, 1986, and during the next 13 years the Corps built up a fleet of 179 of the Bell manufactured attack helicopters, a press release from Bell said.
Super Cobras racked up 933,614 flight hours since it first hit the fleet, deploying with Marines all around the globe.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/marine-corps-times/2020/10/20/marine-corps-says-goodbye-to-the-super-cobra/ (https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/marine-corps-times/2020/10/20/marine-corps-says-goodbye-to-the-super-cobra/)
-
The AH-1W has been replaced by the Bell manufactured AH-1Z Viper, which reached initial operational capability status in 2011 and has been slowly replacing the old Super Cobras since.
I think I saw prototypes of the HUD for the AH-1W being tested when I was at Kaiser Electronics back in 1979 or 1980. IIRC it was based on the now venerable 8080A microprocessor. The HUD looked similar to the HUD for Germany's Alpha Jet advanced trainer.