>>23255037
AH-64 Apache has all those goodies and more
Blue Thunder never had a Hellfire missile that deployed swords
Blue Thunder released 1983
www.imdb.com/title/tt0085255/
Chosen in 1976 as the winner of the Army’s Advanced Attack Helicopter program, the AH-64 Apache entered service in 1985. The spindly, insectoid Apache looked like it was moving even while sitting still on the tarmac. The helicopter was powered by two GE T700 turboshaft engines, each generating up to 1,695 shaft horsepower, giving the aircraft a top speed of 189 miles per hour. The four-bladed main rotor can be folded for transport in C-17 and C-5 transport aircraft.
The Apache’s “killer app,” the key capability that made it indispensable on the battlefield, was its ability to fire the new AGM-114 Hellfire missile—a laser-guided anti-tank missile with a range of 8 kilometers, or more than double the range of the older TOW missile. The Apache could carry up to 16 Hellfires at once, and a single helicopter could theoretically destroy an entire company of ten Soviet tanks, all while staying out of range of enemy air defenses. Alternatively, the Apache could carry eight Hellfires and two pods of 19 Hydra-70 70mm unguided rockets (effective against dismounted infantry or light armored vehicles) or four pods of Hydra-70 rockets.
The Apache was one of the first weapon systems to include forward-looking infrared night vision. The Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot’s Night Vision Sensor (TADS/PNVS) allowed Apache pilots to target the enemy at night, or in daytime locate armored vehicles in brush or other cover that were running their engines, producing a “hot” thermal signature. This also allowed Apache crews to see through battlefield smoke and smokescreens—even Warsaw Pact smokescreens—taking away a major advantage from an advancing enemy force.
www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a45839783/what-to-know-about-ah-64-apache/