1970 Onwards

Designed to hunt and destroy tanks, the Apache attack helicopter has significantly improved the Army's operational capability. Apache can operate in all weathers, day or night and detect, classify and prioritise up to 256 potential targets in a matter of seconds. It carries a mix of weapons including rockets, Hellfire missiles and a 30mm chain gun.

Since formation in 1957, the Army Air Corps (AAC) has played a significant part in all major operations and campaigns. Malaya in the 1950s and early 1960s, Borneo in 1962, Northern Ireland from 1969, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the late 1970s, the Falkland Islands in 1982, Kuwait in 1990 and the various Balkan conflicts through to the 1990s.

More recently the AAC has been operational in Northern Ireland, Iraq, returned to the Balkans and is currently on operations in Afghanistan.

During the 1960s the role of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was to defend, with other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries, the Inner German Border against a possible attack from the Soviet States of the Warsaw Pact. BAOR was particularly armour-heavy, in order to provide the necessary mobile firepower in defence. However, a tactic of the Warsaw Pact armies, which outnumbered NATO by a considerable amount, was to probe for a weak spot in the defence, break through, and then keep going westward to prevent the NATO armies from establishing a fresh line of defence.

Various ideas were tried to counter this tactic, including the introduction of lighter and faster armoured vehicles. This proved ineffective and so it was decided to arm helicopters with anti-tank missiles which could be held until a possible Soviet breakthrough and then used in number to move quickly to the battle area. This would block leading Soviet elements, temporarily giving NATO units time to withdraw to the next line of defence. The Scout aircraft was chosen and adapted as the Anti-Tank helicopter using the SS11 wire-guided missile.

Both the Scout Anti-Tank Helicopter and Sioux Light Observation Helicopter gave excellent service, but both were ageing and replaced in the 1970s and early 1980s: the Sioux by the Gazelle and the Scout by the Lynx with the Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile (TOW). The Lynx/TOW was armed with twice as many missiles which had an extra 1000m range.

In order for the AAC to remain a modern, significant fighting force it acquired the Apache attack helicopter which first became operational in 2005. Designed to hunt and destroy tanks, the Apache attack helicopter has significantly increased the operational capability of the British Army.