The Apache as originally conceived and eventually built was to fight a down and dirty war starting at the Fulda Gap and ending up in the plains of Spain. At this point the army was to be dug in and starting to fight back. In order to meet this requirement the Apache was to be crash worthy to about 14 Gs and it was to be impervious to all small arms ammunition, a tumbled 50 cal. round and a 23 mm HEI hit in the rotor system, the main gear box and the intermediate and tail rotor gear boxes as well as one engine. This included a HEI round into either the gunners or pilots’ compartments. In the first two uses of the Apache in combat the first in Panama and the second in Gulf War 1 it did not perform in that capacity instead, it was used as a stand-off weapons system. In Gulf War II it was used as a standoff weapons platform during actual combat but in the present application it is being used in close in combat and it has proven to be very vulnerable to small arms ammunition as well as RPGs. It is proving very rapidly that what the army paid for it did not get.
Do I hear Rich Lee getting into the saddle?
