Improved AH-1S … ...more

[Laughter] [Music] the title of this film may be a little misleading because the most of you the ah-1 has turret and rocket management doesn't represent the introduction of a new system rather it is a system requirement based on corporal weapons with which you're already partially familiar the chin turret system is a case in point it has an m1 97 20 millimeter gun with a capability rate of fire limited to 750 shots per minute on the h1 S series 50 ammunition the turret is electrically driven in azimuth and in elevation direct drive DC motors through a gear train supply mechanical power for driving the turret the servo amplifiers are in the universal turret control assembly located on the right side of the aircraft at the Gunners station positioning of the weapon is by means of the familiar helmet sight it makes gun control virtually instinctive by selection where the pilot or gunner looks there the gun will point automatically the gun moves left or right in azimuth 110 degrees a total of 220 degrees the normal slew rate is more than 80 degrees a second in elevation it varies from 11 degrees to 21 degrees up and 50 degrees down with such rapid turret Traverse be sure when the gun turret is energized that the area is secured this will prevent someone being accidentally struck by the gun should the turret be rotated if there is a loss of any electrical power or master arm is turned off the turret will go to emergency stow position 11 degrees up and 0 degrees azimuth during ground maintenance operation of turret the emergency stole circuit breaker should be pulled to prevent the emergency stove from activating here's the gun feed system it is a proven design classic in its simplicity note the similarities between the 7.62 gun feed system on the original a h1g more than a dozen years ago and the 20 millimeter feed system on your new a h1s conceptually they are similar systems but there are many refinements here's a small but important example by activating the loading switch this electric motor pulls the linked 20 millimeter rounds from the box and pushes them into the section of flexible chute that connects to the gun feeder this booster motor eliminates the excessive belt pull loads that would be found at the D linking feeder were the only source of power the booster motor also eliminates the need to manually fill the chute during loading operations although this turret is a growth version of the proven m-28 turret the 20 millimeter m1 97 weapon provides vastly improved combat punch when compared to the 7.62 round this is test footage of the guns system taken during his qualification at Yuma this is a comparison of range firepower and lethality between the two weapons the 20 millimeter gun will accept all series 50 ammunition this will eventually mean perhaps a dozen different rounds including a P H II as well as incendiary and tracer combinations but this gun system has been through more than just an extensive army test program it is the same weapon which has been an operational use with the Marines on their ah-1j s so it's a proven system one which should enter the army inventory with minimum growth pain recoil is obviously a problem with any 20 millimeter cannon you'll notice the single recoil adapter located above the gun drive assembly there's also a compensation circuit running to the aircraft's caste system this means that appropriate aircraft attitude changes are made through thus Cass whenever the gun is fired which leads us to another electronic compensation it's the way the gun takes its own Kentucky windage the automatic Corrections for aircraft speed and gun attitude these small sighting Corrections are automatically fed to the gun as a target is being tracked throughout the 220 degree field of fire turret system test and check-out is a simple routine operation this single test set will check out the entire system w1 connects to the aircraft power source w6 is a multiple lead cable that connects to the gun control assembly through the fairing access door into the logic control unit and test connector 19 j1 now you're ready for an operational check of the turret system use of the test set is detailed in TM - 9 - 10 90 - 206 - 12 but we'll just briefly look at some of the functions there are several important safety considerations before starting a system check out all Wing stores should be downloaded w3j one should be disconnected from w2 p1 the gun feeder and feed system should be clear of ammunition in short no ordnance should be on the aircraft these are all common sense procedures but they must be done in sequence so just follow your tiem checklist and you'll soon be ready to begin the operational check of all turret systems you'll find operation of the test set straightforward there are 16 keys for test selection and command functions plus reticle pass and fail indicators there are nine separate functional checks the first being Power Distribution and test set connection followed by a test for fixed forward servo stability there is a check to verify the Gunners turret stow position there are three TSU tests tracking Terri depression limits and a tracking out of coincidence check slow turret slew and forcing function are covered in the next test and the last two tests verify gun trigger application and release when a fail condition exists there our fault code numbers displayed on the test set these numbers and the fault code table in the TM will help to diagnose the malfunction in the system this has been a quick overview of the m1 97 universal turret you may well ask why I call it universal when all we've shown is the 20 millimeter m1 97 gun well it does accept other weapons the m134 for example the proven cobra minigun 7.62 millimeter and perhaps most important of all growth capability is designed into the turret so a future tactical needs dictate even larger caliber than 20 millimeter the system is designed to accept the m2 31 30 millimeter chain gun now let's take a look at the rocket management system wing stores have been important since the first attack helicopter and although the stores might not look too different than other cobra versions there is a significant difference in capability this control and display unit is the heart of rocket management it permits the pilot to select the precise Rockets needed for specific mission requirements will use animation to show the relationship between the zones of the display unit and the specific rocket cubes which they control zone one is the outer ring of rocket tubes on the outboard launchers a total of 24 zone 2 contains the top and bottom pair on the inner rings of tubes again the outboard launchers this is a total of eight zone three is similar to zone 1 the outer ring of tubes only this time on the inboard launchers again a total of 24 tubes zone 4 is similar to zone 2 only inboard launchers again a total of eight tubes zone 5 is the three Center tubes of all four launchers a total of 12 now you'll notice that the five zones have thumbwheel counters which can be set to indicate the type of rockets which are loaded in the specific zones by aircraft armament personnel and just above each zone arm switch is around remaining counter the LED readout will decrease each time any Rockets are fired so the pilot knows exactly how many Rockets and what type he has available the zone arm switches are located below these rounds remaining readouts these switches are pictorial and have a symbolic representation of the specific zone of rockets which they control the first thumb wheel at the bottom of the panel selects rocket penetration and meters thus enabling the explosion to occur a predetermined distance after foliage canopy penetration the increments are in five meter intervals from 10 to 45 meters there's also a super quick setting for point detonation an additional bucer setting will detonate the rocket after penetration of dirt and logs up to 3 meters in thickness rate selects 3 rates of fire automatic slow and fast in general the automatic setting will be used since that is the optimum firing rate for the specific type of rockets being used mode is a selection of firing quad one rocket from each of the four launchers pairs two rounds one from each side of the aircraft and single one round alternating from each side of the aircraft quantity is a multiple of the mode switch it varies from one two four eight and all so if the pilot selects eight for the quantity and has the mode of quad the system will sequentially fire thirty-two of the selected Rockets the range switch activates the computer which sets the M for 39 fuses the range is adjustable from five hundred to six thousand meters and 100 meter increments the range switch has an automatic position for future use with a fire control computer until the FCC is incorporated the a position sets the M for 39 fuses for 3,000 meters the press to test switch can be used either in flight or on the ground the master arm switch on the armament panel must be in the standby mode in order for the test sequence to be initiated the test validates the entire subsystem in including all associated aircraft wiring we have spent quite a bit of time going over the cockpit display unit because understanding what it does and how it manages the rocket system is very important to armament personnel obviously the loader must load specific rockets in their respective zones in order for the system to work correctly within each zone the loading can be random but different rocket types for each zone must be kept separated bear in mind that there may well be times when only partial rocket loads can be used warhead weight altitude high ambient air temperature and full fuel loads are factors which can combine to limit the payload that the s can carry for certain stringent missions using the bit features of the subsystem a maintenance technician is able to detect locate and correct problems which may occur within the armament loads here a round was not seated properly within the launcher or this tube has a rocket which has not had the hook connected even defective rocket motor squib can be detected with this bit equipment replacement of individual LR use is easy each LRU has a mechanical fault indicator the flag is tripped anytime a malfunction occurs so replacement can quickly be made one of the more sophisticated aspects of the rocket management system is the RC fuse subsystem this is a completely automatic computer system which sets the fusing of each rocket on an individual basis it automatically compensates for the up to 20 percent fused tolerances and gives each rocket an individual fuse setting to achieve the specific range which has been selected it's the most sophisticated part of the fire control system but it requires no maintenance other than replacement of any defective LRU repairs of these faulty LR use present no real problem at the intermediate level of maintenance a single test set is sufficient to isolate the fault make a diagnosis and enable you to make repairs the whole rocket management system has been designed for high reliability and maintainability no introduction would be complete without a mention of some of the airframe changes that are found in the ah-1s perhaps the most important is this new 10k VA alternator it makes available through a rectifier 200 additional amps of DC power that means that this new alternator or the start generator can operate the turret such redundancy provides a high degree of combat survivability and increases the probability of mission success if one system is damaged this has just been an armament preview of the newest version of the Kobra the ah-1s coupled with an already existing tow missile capability it means that your aircraft can now bring an even greater variety of more potent firepower against a wider variety of targets all army aviation technicians perform valuable work but when it comes to the 68 mm and j MOS the work is perhaps even more important because nobody contributes more to the direct success of the aircraft in its specific combat mission than the work of you armament technicians another man's finger may be on the trigger but in a very real sense the weapons are in your hands [Music]