Air Helicopters AH-1AH-1Z Attack Helicopter’s New Long Range Missile Seen For The First Time
The Marines are working to dramatically extend the kinetic reach of their AH-1Zs to help ensure their relevance in future high-end fights.
Joseph Trevithick
Updated Yesterday
196
USNThe U.S. Navy has released a picture of a U.S. Marine Corps
AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter with a previously unseen long-range munition armament. The Marines are known to be in the process of
developing at least one new missile, the Precision Attack Strike Missile (PASM), to dramatically extend the range at which AH-1Zs can engage targets on land and at sea. The Corps sees this as key to ensuring the relevance of the helicopters in a future major conflict, especially one in the Pacific against China.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
recently shared the image of the AH-1Z as part of an announcement about “the Marine Corps [having] successfully executed its first live employment test of a new Long Range Precision Fire (LRPF) capability” last November.
“The event was successfully executed at Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) in Yuma, AZ where an AH-1Z conducted [a] single launch by way of a wireless application via Marine Air-Ground Tablet (MAGTAB),” according to NAVAIR’s release. “The November test at YPG exceeded the threshold requirements with regards to position, navigation, and timing.”