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Upgraded British Apache's


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Hi all,

It's been a while since I was able to get some newer close up shots of WAH-64's. Wattisham hosted another group of visitors today and I was a little suprised to see that the airframes put on display had been newly upgraded with the M-TADS configuration - bearing in mind Westlands only rolled out the first two upgraded airframes in November. I imagine this is going to make building a accurate AH even more difficult...

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Rear fuselage HIDAS aerials are now being moved to the end of the wing stubs. Might as well use the position as they're unlikely to ever see the Starstreak fit!

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A recently revised comprehensive walkround of the WAH-64 is linked below.

http://gary-stedman.fotopic.net/c1648365.html

Gary

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Hi Rafael.

The two books I mentioned were 'Apache' by Ed Macy, and 'Apache Dawn', by Damien Lewis, both published in the UK within a few weeks of each other last year.

'Apache' is written by one of the crew from the two Apache's that flew and landed at Jugroom Fort with Royal Marines hanging off the aircraft sides in early 2007. It covers 656 Sqn's deployment in 2006/7 and closes with the Jugroom Fort Mission.

'Apache Dawn' is written by a professional author, who tells the story of a flight from 662 Sqn during their first deployment in 2007.

I've read both several times, and would highly recommend either book although in my opinion 'Apache' is the better written account.

They can both be found on Amazon in the US, although 'Apache' has yet to be published there. Amazon in the UK has both available at the moment.

Hope that's some help.

Gary

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Glad to hear our friends across the pond are getting MTADS too.

As for the new MPNVS turret in 48th, I've got the master basically finished.

Sold! any chance of 1/32 scale? (see you give us one thing and we just keep asking for more) Just when you thought an Apache couldn't look any bulkier and more vicious I see these Pics! :P

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Those British Apaches looks like they loaded with a lot of goodies. Since I'm no expert, what is M-TADS and HIDAS?

M-TADS/PNVS stands for Modernized Target Acquisition System Pilot Night Vision Sensor. In a nut shell, it enhances the pilots vision so that he doesnt have to fight to see and fly. HIDAS is Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids System. Its kinda like a smart computer that tells the crew " ok, this is what is targeting you and this what you should do to counter it."

The systems are great, Im not gonna lie. I read about them a while back and just kinda skimmed over the descriptions and forgot about it. After seeing this post I brushed up on the material and its quite amazing what they can do now. However, when I look at pictures like these of the Apache, Im even more amazed that the thing can get off the ground cause it looks so darn bulky. Maybe Im just biased cause Im a Cobra man.

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M-TADS/PNVS stands for Modernized Target Acquisition System Pilot Night Vision Sensor. In a nut shell, it enhances the pilots vision so that he doesnt have to fight to see and fly. HIDAS is Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids System. Its kinda like a smart computer that tells the crew " ok, this is what is targeting you and this what you should do to counter it."

The systems are great, Im not gonna lie. I read about them a while back and just kinda skimmed over the descriptions and forgot about it. After seeing this post I brushed up on the material and its quite amazing what they can do now. However, when I look at pictures like these of the Apache, Im even more amazed that the thing can get off the ground cause it looks so darn bulky. Maybe Im just biased cause Im a Cobra man.

Thanks Zach for the information. Very interesting.

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