Shaping a Way Ahead for the USMC Light Attack Helicopter

I had a chance to talk with William Hendricks during the 2025 Navy League meetings held the first week of April 2025.

Hendricks now works at Bell but has extensive experience in the USMC as a Cobra pilot, and extensive experience in deployments in the Middle East and in the Pacific. I met him first when he was working for the Deputy Commandant of Aviation. Later he commanded a squadron that deployed to Japan, studied Japanese and went to the Japanese War College, and then served as the Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) liaison officer within the Japanese Ministry of Defence.

We focused on the key question of how we take the Marine Corps’ current fleet of AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venom helicopters and modernize them in ways that will enhance their survivability, lethality, and contributions to Combatant Commander’s operational plans.

Hendricks highlighted on-going efforts that will improve H-1 digital interoperability, add advanced survivability equipment, and expand the scope of weapons available to the Viper and Venom. He underscored that with the addition of both Link 16 and an advanced data bus that facilitates net-enabled weapons, AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys will provide the U.S. Joint Force with an asymmetric advantage that our adversaries will be hard pressed to counter.

As Hendricks underscored: “In the very near future, USMC AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys will carry net-enabled weapons with engagement ranges up to 15 times greater than weapons they currently carry while receiving targeting information from USMC, joint, or allied fighter aircraft. As a result, H-1 aircrew will not be required to Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, and Assess (F2T2EA) enemy weapons systems with sensors that require movement to locations well within the adversaries Weapons Engagement Zones. In other words, the Viper and Venom will no longer need to stick its head into the hornet’s nest to get its targeting data.”

But the investment in the AH-1Z and UH-1Y represents more than just an arithmetic improvement in USMC war-fighting capabilities. Rather, these investments provide a previously unachievable synergy between U.S. Rotary Wing and Fixed Wing assets.

As Hendricks noted: “Our Vipers and Venoms, equipped with more robust defensive systems, an advanced data bus, Link 16, and long-range net-enabled weapons, will operate at altitudes and in environments exclusive to Rotary Wing platforms. Hidden at low altitude from enemy radar systems, the AH-1Z and UH-1Y will team with Fixed Wing fighters in such a way that our adversaries are placed in a dilemma: The Viper and Venom will be undetectable to enemy radar while Joint Force Fixed Wing assets pass enemy target locations while remaining outside of the enemy’s missile range. Put another way, the enemy might see our Fixed Wing assets but cannot range them, and they cannot detect the Vipers and Venoms that are targeting them with long-range precision weapons.”

As Hendricks underscored: “This combined arms approach will leverage the strengths of both our Rotary Wing and Fixed Wing platforms allowing USMC H-1s to contribute to the maritime fight and Joint Force in ways previously unavailable to Combatant Commanders. Investments in the AH-1Z and UH-1Y will allow USMC Rotary Aircraft to make significant contributions to Combatant Commanders during the high-end of operational contests.”

And with the arrival of drones and mix and match threats, the ability of the H-1 to carry several missiles with different characteristics and capabilities means the aircraft can carry high-value missiles for high-value threats as well as much less expensive missiles to be used against enemy drones.

This has already been demonstrated by the USAF in working with the U.S. Navy against the Houthis where the F-16s used cheap missiles guided by lightening pods to defeat Houthi drones.

The point is one needs accurate target identification conjoined with a variety of mix and match defensive capabilities to defeat the mix of strike forces which modern enemies deploy now and in the future.

What Hendricks ended with was a reference to how fifth generation and fourth generation fighters leverage their relative strengths. “Our fifth-generation fighters employ their suite of sensors and targeting systems to operate as battle managers for fourth generation fighters that employ a large array of external weapons from locations where low observability is not as critical.”

He argued that for the Marines and the Joint Force, F-35s can work with the H-1s in a similar manner bringing more firepower and lethality to the battle space.

He concluded: “Our investment in H-1s will allow better integration of the Viper and Venom into the Joint Force and provide Combatant Commanders with capabilities that our adversaries will find difficult to counter. These investments will serve as a deterrent to conflict and more importantly, allow us to win if deterrence fails.”

Featured image: U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper helicopters, left, and a UH-1Y Venom helicopter, all assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, fly as part of Service Level Training Exercise 5-24 at Camp Wilson, Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, Aug. 6, 2024. Fleet Support is a period where Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One Weapons and Tactics Instructors provide certification of unit instructor qualifications and general support throughout the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, while standardizing Marine aviation across the fleet. SLTE is a series of exercises designed to prepare Marines for operations around the globe by increasing their ability to operate and conduct offensive and defensive combat operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Micah Thompson)

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