AH-64A Peten (USA)

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Rank VI Israel | Premium | Golden Eagles
Merkava Mk.2D Pack
▃AH-64A Peten
ah_64a_peten.png
▃AH-64A Peten
AB RB SB
10.3 11.3 10.3
Show in game

Description

GarageImage AH-64A Peten (USA).jpg


The ▃AH-64A Peten is a premium gift rank VI American attack helicopter with a battle rating of 10.3 (AB/SB) and 11.3 (RB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".

General info

Flight performance

The AH-64A Peten is one of the fastest helicopters in the game as it has a very powerful engine, which also gives the Peten a good climb rate. Manoeuvrability at high speed is excellent.

Characteristics Max Speed
(km/h at 1,000 m)
Max altitude
(metres)
AB RB
Stock ___ ___ 5,400
Upgraded 324 300

Survivability and armour

The Peten is a very tough helicopter, and can usually take a couple of hits from air-to-air missiles and small-calibre cannon rounds and still fly. The crew is very well protected, so getting pilot-sniped is a rare occurrence. The engines can also usually take a hit or two without exploding like other engines.

Armaments

Offensive armament

Main article: M230E-1 (30 mm)

The AH-64A Peten (USA) is armed with:

  • 1 x 30 mm M230E-1 cannon, chin turret (1,200 rpg)

The Peten has the same 30 mm cannon as the other Apaches in the game currently, and only has one belt choice. The belt carries only HEDP rounds, and can penetrate up to 51 mm of armour. The gun is fast firing, but relatively inaccurate, so shooting in close range is the best way to hit your target. If you don't mind the inaccuracy of the gun, it is a very good weapon all around. It can be locked in gunner and 3rd person view and will automatically track the target.

Suspended armament

The AH-64A Peten (USA) can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

  • 76 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets
  • 8 x AGM-114B Hellfire missiles + 38 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets
  • 16 x AGM-114B Hellfire missiles
  • 4 x AIM-92 Stinger missiles
  • 4 x AIM-92 Stinger missiles + 76 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets
  • 16 x AGM-114B Hellfire missiles + 4 x AIM-92 Stinger missiles

The Peten can carry up to 16 Hellfire ATGMs with over 1,000 mm of pen, 76 Hydra rockets with over 200 mm of pen, or 4 Stinger AAMs. The weapons are carried on the stub wings and can be carried in several different variations. The Hellfires are excellent missiles, although since the player must keep "painting" a laser beam on the target, misses can occur if the target lock slips. The Hydra rockets are generally very effective, especially when used with the ballistic computer. 76 rockets is enough for 3-5 tanks if they are used by an experienced player. However, the Stinger AAMs are not the best in the game by any stretch, with relatively little explosive mass and only a 10G overload. They may take 2-3 hits to damage aircraft, and heavily armoured helicopters such as the Mi-28 may survive multiple hits.

Usage in battles

In Ground Realistic battles, there are three main strategies for using this helicopter. First, one can go ground-pounding with either the 76 Hydra rockets and 4 Stingers combination, provided that enemy SPAAs are not present, or with 38 Hydra rockets and 8 Hellfires, so that one can neutralize SPAA from a safe distance before moving in with rockets. Second, one can take the 16 Hellfires and simply snipe from long range. Third, and least effective, is to only take the 4 Stinger AAMs and hunt enemy helicopters. Some notable enemies come from the tech trees of Germany, Russia, and Sweden. From the German tech tree, the Gepard and the FlaRakPz 1 can be dangerous, latter more so than the former, as the Gepard can be dealt with with Hellfires if one stays out of the range of the guns. In the Russian tree, the Tunguska can give you serious trouble if you are uptiered to 10.3. If you are fighting Sweden, the Lvkv 9040C is a powerful AA platform, but since it has no SAMs, it can be dealt with from a safe range. Of course, no mention of how dangerous the OTOMATIC can be is needed by any experienced heli pilot. As with any top tier helicopter, SPAAs must be dealt with before one can move on to other ground targets.

Modules

Tier Flight performance Survivability Weaponry
I Compressor Flak jacket Flares
II Helicopter frame IRCM AGM-114
III Engine Replacing helicopter blades NVD AGM-114 2 New 30 mm cannons
IV Cover AIM-92 Stinger
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Activation of 3rd person lock by changing MFD on the pilot's view
  • Very high top speed, if you stay low or high you are always the most manoeuvrable
  • Amazing 30 mm cannon, can easily take out most tanks, and when locked can take out jets and helicopters too
  • Excellent secondary armament
  • Can carry up to 16 Hellfires and still carry AAMs
  • Can use ballistic computer to dramatically increase the effectiveness of Hydra rockets
  • Can lock targets for 30 mm cannon to automatically track
  • Excellent thermals

Cons:

  • Stinger air to air missiles don't have a reliable lock, and not enough explosive mass to do any real damage
  • Hellfires rarely hit other helicopters, and are difficult to guide to air targets anyway
  • Does not have as many armament options as non-premium AH-64s
  • 30 mm cannon only can access default belt
  • 30 mm cannon is relatively inaccurate
  • AAMs cannot reliably take down armoured helicopters

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the helicopter in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • reference to the series of the helicopter;
  • links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the helicopter;
  • other literature.


USA helicopters
Attack 
Black Hawk  MH-60L DAP
Choctaw  H-34
Cobra  AH-1F · AH-1G · AH-1Z
SuperCobra  AH-1W
Kiowa  OH-58D
Little Bird  AH-6M
Apache  YAH-64 · AH-64A · ▃AH-64A Peten · AH-64A (GR) · AH-64D
Utility 
Huey  UH-1B · UH-1C · UH-1C XM-30