Attack Helicopter Match-Ups: India vs. Pakistan
Pakistan's Army is in possession of a number of AH-1 Cobra gunships. A development of the venerable Bell UH-1 Huey transport helicopter, the AH-1 Cobra was first introduced in 1967 for the Vietnam War, it is the original purpose-built helicopter gunship. The Pakistanis use the AH-1S and F models of this proven design, which have seen use against insurgents in the Northwest Frontier since the 1980s.
Paradoxically, the older upgrade of the Cobra is the S model. The main improvement was putting in a 1,800 hp engine, and all subsequent upgrades were based on this model. The F version includes a laser range finder and infrared suppression on the engine and exhaust, making the helicopter much harder for IR-guided missiles (such as the Stinger) to track. These helicopters have a maximum speed of 172 mph, a range of 274 miles, a maximum climb rate of 1,620 ft/min, and a service ceiling of 12,200 feet. They come armed with a 3 barreled 20mm cannon, and can carry either 2.75" rocket pods or TOW anti-tank missiles on 4 external hard points.
India
The Indian Air Force uses the Russian-built Mi-25 and Mi-35 Hind helicopters. The Hind is a combination attack helicopter and light transport, derived from the Mi-8 transport helicopter. It is the most heavily used combat helicopter in the world, having seen action in at least 19 different conflicts.
The helicopter has two engines capable of delivering 2,200 hp each, a maximum speed of 208 mph, a range of 280 miles, and a service ceiling of 14,500 feet. The helicopter typically carries a multi-barrelled 12.7mm heavy machine gun in the nose, but can carry a 23mm or 30mm cannon instead. It also usually comes with door-mounted machine guns. There are 6 external hard points that can carry a plethora of arms in a combined payload of up to 3,300lbs. This can include gun pods, anti-tank missiles, rockets, and heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles.
Result: INDIA! The AH-1F and S model of Cobras are a reliable design, and they are also smaller and more maneuverable than Hinds. This is not a small consideration, and should be by no means overlooked. However, they are also not the latest version of the AH-1 (that is the AH-1W Super Cobra), which means they are lacking in certain capabilities that the Hinds wield.
The Hinds have greater range and greater lift capacity, as well as a higher service ceiling. This means they can carry more ordinance further, higher, and hang around on the battlefield longer. The maximum service ceiling in particular makes the Hind more useful in places like Kashmir. They also have the ability to engage other helicopters with IR-guided missiles, something the AH-W Super Cobra can do, but not the AH-1F and S models.
Sources: globalsecurity.org; http://indianairforce.nic.in/; http://www.pakarmy.com/
Published by Rich Thomas - Featured Contributor in Travel
A Kentuckian and longtime resident of Washington, DC with an MA in international affairs, Thomas splits his time between American and Portugal. He works as a freelance writer both in print and online, writin... View profile
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12 Comments
Post a CommentAaagh! The two links below in proper format:
(1) http://pakistantimes.net/2005/02/22/top1.htm (2) http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article14.html
http://pakistantimes.net/2005/02/22/top1.htm
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article14.html
Pakistan's biggest and most pressing exigency is its Taliban insurgency- they are an 'existential threat' in every sense of the word- growing more virulent by the day. Already however, their military (and military procurements) have suffered severe attrition: regular kidnappings, casualties, the previously mentioned structural constraints brought on by the IMF, munitions expenditure- in particular artillery which is heavily used, and the colossal financial costs of the war on terror themselves which directly impact the ability of a state with a much smaller purchasing power to spend on military programs notwithstanding, a part of the thanks to that end is also owed to our beloved Senators in Washington, who have previously stalled 'non-essential' weapons' upgradation programs to Pakistan: including spare parts for it's F-16's that have left Pakistan's small 32-strong aircraft fleet virtually crippled with most of them being cannibalized. Read the following for example:
http://pakis
...board the Nerpa.
You are also aware no doubt that the 7.6 billion dollar IMF loan Pakistan is saddled with stipulates an immediate reduction in defense spending by as much as 30%. This has already led to a severe curtailment in funding for its nuclear programme, even as India has conducted a range of successive missile tests on its Agni and Prithvi variants, test launched the nuclear capable undersea ballistic missile K-15 and unveiled a new surface-surface missile Shaurya, as well as begun work on multi-layered BMD.
Meanwhile Pakistan's armed forces lack basic equipment with which to fight the Taliban insurgency, which is increasingly taking to sophisticated arms themselves- and which malady the Pakistani government will hopefully put the $7.6 billion IMF loan to remedy. Despite the bellicose rhetoric on both sides- in particular on the part of my country- the threat of war between India and Pakistan for the immediate future remains remote.
Rich Thomas,
I'm surprised you would take my comments to be anything other than that. The contest- by your own article- in terms of attack helicopters between India and Pakistan has already been won. My comments were in light of future projections of the trajectories the rotorcraft- and in particular the attack helicopter programmes of the two countries are headed in. Infact, if previous procurements are any indication, the bumbling bureaucracy India is burdened with will ensure that the acquisition of these will take some time.
However, on the other hand there are some positive signs following the scathing Comptroller Auditor General report in 2008, that the government has shed some of its complacency and has actually put some of its forthcoming acquisitions on the fast track. Since you do refer to the Akula II nuclear submarines, our boys have already left for the Komsomolosk shipyard after completing their training at the facility in Sosnovy Bor for a training regimen on boa
Oh yes - I know they have those things in the works, but they don't actually HAVE them yet! Check my submarines article - the Indians want to acquire Russian-made Akula nuclear attack subs, but they don't have those yet either.
@ Heather Carreiro,
I'm surprised you haven't made the move already :D
Addendum to my previous post,
My apologies, I realized my post submitted prematurely. To expand on what I was saying, The other companies vying for the $2 billion bid are Augusta Westland's A129, EADS's Eurocopter Tiger HAD and Kamov's (Rosboronexport's) Mi-28 NE (Night Export). And these are only for the Army's Attack Helicopter program. There is also the Army's (reissued) Reconnaisance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) tender to procure 197 aircraft for which Augusta Westland's AW119, EADS (Eurocopter's) Fennec AS 550 C3 and Bell's 407 LH were frontrunners (evidently the AW119 won that deal). All this is excluding the Navy's own RFP for 37 anti-Submarine helicopters and the Air Force's requirement for 115 light helicopters. Interestingly, Eurocopter has also been in talks with HAL (Hindostaan Aeronautics Ltd.) for about a year on co-developing and producing a multi-role aircraft in the 10-12-metric-ton class, and Agusta Westland and Tata Sons (part of the conglomerate that owns B
@ Abasster
As of early April 2008, The Indian government has issued Request for Proposals for two defence projects worth over 2 billion dollars over the next few months. The first- for 22 attack helicopters and the second for heavy-lift choppers to replace our largely Soviet-era fleet. Now Boeing's Apache AH-64 and Chinook Ch-47 are frontrunners for the former and latter respectively. Boeing has also evinced interest in helping India design and construct an indigenous helicopter (India already has an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter called the 'Dhruv' which it has exported to some 4 small countries) and in transfer of technology to develop India's aerospace industry (lucrative contracts have won Boeing more than $25 billion in civilian aircraft from India in the last 3 years alone). The other choppers vying for the bid are . The MoD will also float a separate tender for 312 helicopters in a deal estimated to be worth more than one billion dollars. And there are also discussions
I need one to get through the traffic....