Marine Corps Viper (née Super Cobra, née Sea Cobra, née Cobra) Attack Helicopter receives LRAM and Sidewinder
Army needs to take a cue and similarly arm the tried and true Apache
The Marines have retired their tanks, successfully wrestled more small landing ships out of Navy, and increased their ground launched long range missile fire capability. Now their attack helicopter is receiving an exponential increase in attack range through the Long Range Attack Munition (LRAM) that has been developed quietly and might look something like the missile below.
The idea is to fit the LRAM to the Viper attack helicopter, which through genealogy traces back to the Vietnam era Cobra helicopter, but is light years ahead in capability.
The Viper will be able to use the LRAM to hit targets just beyond 170 miles. This means a Viper hovering at the Southern Command Helicopter Pad in Miami can hit a Chinese spy trawler moored outside of Nassau in the The Bahamas (a notional scenario). This makes the Attack Helicopter relevant again after the beating they’ve taken by both sides in Ukraine. Notionally, a Taiwanese Apache could fire a bundle of LRAMs from a hover at its heliport and hit a PLA invasion convoy forming up near Shanghai.
The LRAM is still obscured in mystery, that’s a good thing. The LRAM can make the Viper very relevant in the Western Pacific. With the Sidewinder, it means the Viper can shoot down high performance jet aircraft, double prizes. The U.S. Army needs to take note and do the same, pronto with its battle hardened force of proven Apache Attack helicopters.
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A positive military move for a change.