The Apache Helicopter

The AH-64 was named the "Apache" keeping with the Army's traditional use of American Indian tribal names for its helicopters.

The AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with reverse-tricycle landing gear, and tandem cockpit for a crew of two.

The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the AH-1 Cobra.

First flown on 1 October 1975, the AH-64 features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems.

The Apache is armed with a 30 mm M230 Chain Gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's belly.

The AH-64 is powered by two General Electric T700 turboshaft engines with high-mounted exhausts on either side of the rotor shaft.

The Apache has a four-blade main rotor and four-blade tail rotor setup. The crew sits in tandem, with the pilot sitting behind and above the copilot-gunner in an armored crew compartment.

The crew compartment and fuel tanks are armored such that the aircraft will remain flyable even after sustaining hits from 23 mm gunfire.

The AH-64 also carries a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire and Hydra 70 rocket pods on four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons.

The AH-64 also features double- and triple-redundant aircraft systems to improve survivability for the aircraft and crew in combat, as well as improved crash survivability for the pilots.