Warplanes: April 9, 2003

Archives

U.S. Army AH-64 Apache gunship pilots went into Iraq with the intention of going off on their own and hitting enemy targets far away from friendly troops. This led to a lot of shot up Apaches. Part of this was due to the paucity of targets, but mostly it was due to a lot of Iraqis down their with AK-47s and heavy machine-guns (14.5mm and up). Early actions like this left about 30 Apaches  damaged, and two shot down. But the Apaches were saved by other demands for their services by their own ground troops. Attacks on supply convoys, and combat troops wanting more air support, took the Apaches away from those long range missions. An Apache flying over a supply convoy tended to discourage Iraqi attacks. Combat units were more effective with a few Apaches working with them. These new missions gave the Apaches more targets, and less ground fire directed at them. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close