can an apache operate in all conditions as a heavy hog?

Supercobra,

Oops! Well, I assumed that they were Marine pods just because of the color variation. Guess I was wrong.

Glider,

Thanks for the pics! Been busy as hell as battalion S-2 and learning the new job. Will email soon!

Snakedriver,

Hope all's well. You coming to the Wall on 11 Nov? I'm supposed to be meeting with a few former Maxers that weekend. Hope I'll see you there!

ARA "hogs" in RVN couldn't carry a full load of fuel and a full load of 76 rockets in the "hog" configuration. Inboard pods generally carried a reduced load (30) of 17 pounders with a similarly reduced load of 10 pounders or "nails" outboard. Since we never knew where, when or what type of mission we were to fly, ARA birds had to carry an optimum mix of rockets/fuel in order to get to the target, loiter, and return. The "hog" configuration allowed a better mix of heavy (17 pound) and lighter rockets as well as more "shots" than the 19/7
shot configuration. The lighter 10 pound warheads also allowed us to get in closer to the grunts than the 17 pounders. The larger warheads were most effective in LZ preps as no "friendlies" were exposed to the larger bursting radius. I liked "nails" for LZ preps as they could cover a wide area and did not start fires in the LZ which could cause visibility problems for the lift pilots.

sure can as long as his horse can hold the weight
and the sioux don't find out

Sure it can, but in high DA conditions, hot and/or high altitude, you're going to have some limitations. With a robbie tank-equipped non-FCR bird and 250 rounds of 30mm, that puts your takeoff weight at a over 18000. On a Iraqi summer day of well over 40 Celsius at sea level, you won't have OGE power, and taking off out of a FARP gets problematic at best. If you want to consider an FCR aircraft, the whole FCR kit, with the black boxes included, adds about 700 pounds.

Even then, if you had room for a rolling takeoff, sure you can get it off the ground, but it's not going to be fun. It'll handle like a stubborn pig, and you'll have no emergency single-engine capability to speak of until you jettison the stores. Go up in altitude, throw in terrain--it only gets worse.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Cobrahistorian There are a few good pics of Apaches from the 1-211th ATKHB on Marines.mil operating in the Heavy Hog configuration. Just do a search for "Apache" and you should find it. It looks like the 211th had to borrow some 19 shot pods from the Marines in order to be able to go "Heavy Hog," though. Their inboard pods look grey and tan instead of the usual Helo Drab.

If I'm looking at the same pictures I don't think those are Marine pods. The Marine LAU-61 19 shot pods are shorter than the Army pods because they don't have the selectable zones, they mainly keep their pods green as well, and the Army wouldn't want to use Marine pods because they aren't authroized for submunitions.

There are a few good pics of Apaches from the 1-211th ATKHB on Marines.mil operating in the Heavy Hog configuration. Just do a search for "Apache" and you should find it. It looks like the 211th had to borrow some 19 shot pods from the Marines in order to be able to go "Heavy Hog," though. Their inboard pods look grey and tan instead of the usual Helo Drab.

Yes, an Apache can be configured as a Heavy Hog with all rockets. No limiting factors.