The UH-1 gunship was a true weapons platform and showcased the versatility of the design as a whole. The most potent of these ("Cobra" form) carried wing stubs that mounted a quad 0.30 caliber machine gun array (two guns stacked at each end point) and a single pylon for a seven- or nineteen-shot 2.75" rocket pod for a total of fourteen rockets. Alternatively miniguns could take the place of the quad 0.40 caliber machine gun arrangement (as could a cannon pod as in the "XM-31" 20mm system) and various rocket launchers were fitted over or under the wing stubs (the former as in the "XM-6 Quad Mount" system). At the nose was a powered turret fitting a 40mm M-5 automatic grenade launcher fed by a 107 round stock of projectiles. Beyond these fixed implements were M60 General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) carried at each side door (or M134 trainable miniguns)), trainable and operated by dedicated gunners. A typical crew, therefore, numbered four personnel to man the various onboard systems and weapons. Night operations could be aided by trainable searchlights at the side doors as well and required additional crew to function (sighting devices were also part of this configuration).
UH-1 gunships excelled in their given role for the firepower they carried into battle was a much-needed quality of Army doctrine of the period. Helicopters had access to areas well-beyond front lines and this meant that they were usually operating in zones while taking fire. As such, the importance of suppression was highly valued by warplanners and infantry alike. The role of Huey gunships was also expanded as they formed one-half of "hunter-killer" teams when paired with lighter helicopter platforms such as Hughes OH-6 and Bell OH-58 helicopters. Alternatively, the light helicopters could be switched our for a fixed-wing attacker like the Douglas A-1 "Skyraider" which could fly low and slow enough to be effective alongside the UH-1 gunships. These observation helicopters could locate and assess enemy positions and work in tandem with the awaiting gunship who then brought its lethal payload to bear on a designated area.
Due to their excellent combat record, UH-1 gunships had a direct influence on the expediency of getting the Bell AH-1 Cobra into the skies over Vietnam. The AH-1 eventually took over direct-attack duties from the Huey gunship types during the late 1960s and, while proving effective in their own right, AH-1 helicopters lacked an inherent troop-ferrying capability which limited them tactically -particularly where MEDEVAC and troop extractions were critical to a platoon's success or failure. The Soviets learned this and added a troop cabin to their equally-excellent Mil Mi-24 "Hind" line, effectively making them armored and heavily armed "gun buses".
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