Bell 209 AH-1 Cobra
1965 · Single-engine turbine helicopter
The AH-1 HueyCobra, the first true gunship put into production,
rushed into service during the Vietnam War and remained the
backbone of the US Army attack helicopter fleet until it was replaced by the AH-64 Apache during the 1980s.
A twin engine variant, known as the Sea Cobra, was soon adopted by the USMC too and as of 2010, remains in production in the far more sophisticated AH-1Z variant.
Read more at AH-1 Cobra
A twin engine variant, known as the Sea Cobra, was soon adopted by the USMC too and as of 2010, remains in production in the far more sophisticated AH-1Z variant.
Read more at AH-1 Cobra
Derivatives & Versions
| AH-1G Cobra | 1965 | The AH-1G HueyCobra was the original production version of the Cobra attack helicopter, entering service with the U. |
| AH-1J Sea Cobra | 1969 | The AH-1J Sea Cobra was developed for the USMC as a twin engine variant based on a desire for improved safety and redundancy for over-water operation. |
| AH-1E Cobra | 1970 | |
| AH-1T Super Cobra | 1974 | The AH-1T SeaCobra was a twin-engine development of the AH-1J, built primarily for the United States Marine Corps in the late 1970s. |
| AH-1J International | 1975 | |
| AH-1S Cobra | 1976 | The US Army upgraded the AH-1G (and its modernization AH-1Q and AH-1R ) with a three step program called AH-1S. |
| AH-1F Cobra | 1979 | |
| → AH-1S | 1980 | Fuji acquired a license to build the Bell AH-1S attack helo for JGSDF. |
| AH-1W Super Cobra | 1986 | First delivered on 27 Mar 1986, the USMC retired its last AH-1W Super Cobra at the end of Sep 2020 after 34 years of service. |
| AH-1Z Viper | 2000 | Part of the H-1 upgrade program the twin engine AH-1Z ( Bell 449 ) was developed from the AH-1W Super Cobra as the new US Marines's attack helicopter. |
| Firewatch Cobra | 2003 | Former US Army attack helicopters equipped with infrared sensors for firefighting support. |