Apache (Tiberian Dawn)

You may be looking for RA2:AH-64 Apache in RA Universe

The AH-64 Apache was the primary attack helicopter of the Allied Forces during the Great World War II, in which it served as an anti-tank gunship. It was later procured by the Brotherhood of Nod, who refitted it to act as an anti-infantry weapons platform.

During the Great World War II it was equipped with heavy armor, sophisticated (at the time) targeting equipment, high altitude level flying and several powerful missile launchers. This meant that it was used similarly to the GDI Orca Assault Craft. Its powerful missiles and great speed enabled it to hunt enemy tanks, particularly fragile V-2 Rocket Platforms. Other units, such as Heavy Tanks, were equally vulnerable because of their lack of anti-aircraft armament. Their armor also meant that they could withstand at least a few volleys of Soviet SAM missiles. Apaches are known to have claimed many a Mammoth Tank during that conflict. However they had difficulty hitting moving targets as homing missile technology was relatively new. After the war, Apaches went home to Allied member states, where they served with distinction, as well as many being donated to the new USSR and later Russia as it made its slow journey back into the family of nations.

Before the start of the First Tiberium War, Nod was able to acquire blueprints and a fleet of Apaches from McDonnell Douglas in the defense scandal that claimed Lockheed, Sikorsky, Mil Design Bureau and sections of Boeing among many, many others. GDI as a result also started the development of the ORCA Assault Craft to counter Nod armored formations and increased air power.

Their upgraded version of the Apache was heavily modified and outfitted with the latest avionics and with a powerful chaingun as a primary weapon and weaker homing missiles as a secondary weapon. The Apache carried a nearly inexhaustible supply of chaingun ammunition, and it retained its heavy armor. This allowed to pursue and slowly chew up even heavily armored targets, as long as they could not shoot back.

In both conflicts, Apaches did not have sufficient armor to survive prolonged anti-aircraft fire, and thus commanders were forced to deploy them carefully. However, once deployed, the Apaches almost always were able to destroy their designated target or fulfill the mission.

It was outclassed eventually by the ORCA Assault Craft, though it ended the war a veteran of many Nod victories. The AH-64 continued to endure in the post war situation among the various Nod splinter factions, being extremely popular for among other things, its mass reproducibility and simplicity to operate and masses of weapons suites available. Eventually, though, the times would dictate that it and the RAH-66 Comanche had to be upgraded. These efforts resulted initially in the Harpy, though both continued to be used sparingly for years even after the Brotherhood was reunited. By the time most known holdouts finally retired it, even after the invention of a true VTOL replacement for Nod in the form of the Venom, it had served faithfully and ceaselessly for over a century. Rumors abound yet among the faithful that the Apaches fly for them, still.