AH-64A APACHE: DEVELOPMENT OF CAPABILITIES FOR THE AERIAL COMBAT ROLE

Actual flight testing of various aircraft during genuine air-to-air combat maneuvers is the most realistic methodology of developing an accurate data base for structural and mission analyses. Unique flight test methodologies and general results of the AH-64A Apache's aerobatic flight tests, Air-to-Air Combat Test IV, and air-to-air missile firings along with future plans for air-to-air testing are presented. With limited financial resources, improved analytical, flight simulation, and test techniques must be used in order to maximize test results. The results and data from air-to-air flight tests and mission effectiveness studies can be used in flight simulation tests to address a myriad of scenarios that are too expensive or too hazardous to be conducted in actual air-to-air flight testing. Requirements for helicopter air-to-air combat testing using flight simulation, and current capabilities of McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company's manned flight simulation facility are presented.