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The Hydra 70
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...
is a diameter fin-stabilized unguided rocket used primarily in the air-to-ground role. It can be equipped with a variety of warheads, and in more recent versions, guidance systems for point attacks. The Hydra is widely used by US and allied forces, competing with the Canadian
CRV-7 The CRV7, short for "Canadian Rocket Vehicle 7", is a 2.75-inch (70 mm) folding-fin ground attack rocket produced by Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was introduced in the early 1970s as an upgraded version of the standard U.S. 2. ...
, with which it is physically interchangeable.


Overview

The Hydra 70 is derived from the diameter Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket developed by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
for use as a free-flight aerial
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...
in the late 1940s. The Mk 40 was used during the Korean and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
wars to provide close air support to ground forces from about 20 different firing platforms, both fixed-wing and armed helicopters. The main change made to produce the Hydra was the Mk. 66 motor which uses a new propellant that offers considerably more thrust, (Mod 2/3) (Mod 4). The fins of the Mk 40 flipped forward from the rear when the rocket left the launching tube, but in the Hydra they are curved to match the outside diameter of the rocket fuselage and flip sideways to open, which is referred to as WAFAR (Wrap-Around Fin Aerial Rocket) instead of FFAR (folding-fin aerial rocket). To improve stability during the time the fins are still opening, the four motor nozzles have a slight cant angle to impart a spin while the rocket is still in the launch tube. Today, the OH-58D(R) Kiowa Warrior and AH-64E Apache Longbow, as well as the Marine Corps' versatile UH-1 Huey and AH-1 Cobra, carry the Hydra rocket launcher standard on its weapon pylons.


Mk 66 rocket motor variants


Service

The family of Hydra 70 (70 mm) 2.75 inch rockets perform a variety of functions. The war reserve unitary and cargo warheads are used for anti-
materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the spec ...
,
anti-personnel An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles ...
, and suppression missions. The Hydra 70 family of folding-fin aerial rockets also includes smoke screening, illumination, and training warheads. Hydra 70 rockets are known mainly by either their warhead type or by the
rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordance ...
designation, Mk 66 in US military service.


United States

In the U.S. Army, Hydra 70 rockets are fired from the AH-64A Apache and AH-64D Apache Longbow
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
s using M261 19-tube rocket launchers, and the
OH-58D Kiowa Warrior The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine single- rotor military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. It was produced by the American manufacturer Bell Helicopter and is closely related to the Model 206A ...
using seven-tube M260 rocket launchers. In the
U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...
, either the M260 or M261 launchers are employed on the AH-1W SuperCobra and AH-1Z Viper, depending upon the mission. The M260 and M261 are used with the Mk 66 series of rocket motor, which replaced the Mk 40 series. The Mk 66 has a reduced system weight and provides a remote
fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze ...
setting interface. Hydra 70s have also been fired from UH-60 and AH-6 series aircraft in US Army service. The AH-1G Cobra and the UH-1B "Huey" used a variety of launchers including the M158 seven-tube and M200 19-tube rocket launchers designed for the Mk 40 rocket motor; however, these models have been replaced by upgraded variants in the
U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...
because they were not compatible with the Mk 66 rocket motor. The Hydra 70 rocket system is also used by the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force.


Common U.S. Mk 66 compatible launchers


Accidents

In 2019, a 72-year-old
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
ese man was killed by a discarded Hydra rocket which he had cut into with an electric saw, believing it to be a length of pipe. The rocket had been caught in the net of a fishing vessel and then discarded by the crew ashore as scrap metal.


Warheads

Hydra 70 warheads fall into three categories: * Unitary warheads with impact-detonating fuzes or remote-set multi-option fuzes. * Cargo warheads with air burst-range, with settable fuzes using the "wall-in-space" concept or fixed standoff fuzes. * Training warheads.


Fuzing options


Common warheads

The most common warhead for the Hydra 70 rocket is the M151 "10-Pounder," which has a blast radius of 10 meters and lethal fragmentation radius of around 50 meters.


Mk 66 rocket motor technical data

* Weight: * Length: * Burn time: 1.05–1.10 sec * Average thrust (): ** (Mod 2/3) ** (Mod 4) * Motor burnout range: * Motor burnout velocity: * Launch spin rate: 10 rps, 35 rps after exiting launcher * Velocity at launcher exit: * Acceleration: ** 60–70 g (initial) ** 95–100 g (final) * Effective Range: depending on warhead and launch platform * Maximum Range: under optimum conditions


Precision guided Hydra 70

There are several design efforts to turn the Hydra 70 rocket into a precision guided munition (PGM) to produce a weapon with greater accuracy but at less cost than other guided missiles. These include: * The
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...
Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II * U.S. Navy Low-Cost Guided Imaging Rocket (LOGIR) *
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
Direct Attack Guided Rocket (DAGR) * The ATK/
Elbit Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international defense electronics company engaged in a wide range of programs throughout the world. The company, which includes Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries, operates in the areas of aerospace, land ...
Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket – Laser The Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket (GATR) is a weapons system under development by Orbital ATK and Elbit Systems. It is intended to provide a low-cost guided missile compatible with existing unguided 70mm rocket launch platforms such as the Hydra ...
(GATR-L) * Raytheon TALON *
Forges de Zeebrugge Forges de Zeebrugge (since 1 January 2017: Thales Belgium) is an arms manufacturer in based in Herstal, Belgium. Forges de Zeebrugge was founded as a munitions factory between Zeebrugge and Zwankendamme, in the 1930s, as a subsidiary of Carcok ...
SAL-Laser Guided Rocket (FZ275 LGR) The APKWS was the first to be fielded in March 2012, and the TALON entered full rate production for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces in September 2014. The Turkish ROKETSAN Cirit is a similar missile compatible with 70 mm rocket launchers, but it was developed from scratch and doesn't use Hydra 70 components.


Operators


Current operators

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


See also

* Roketsan Cirit * U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command *
CRV-7 The CRV7, short for "Canadian Rocket Vehicle 7", is a 2.75-inch (70 mm) folding-fin ground attack rocket produced by Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was introduced in the early 1970s as an upgraded version of the standard U.S. 2. ...
* FFAR rocket 2.75 in (70 mm) * SNEB rocket (68mm) * Zuni 5 in (127 mm)


References


External links

* * . * . * . * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Air-to-ground rockets of the United States Cold War rockets of the United States