USMC AH-1Z To Deploy In Late 2011

A decade after first flight, the U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-1Z attack helicopter finally graduated from a turbulent operational evaluation and is being readied for its first shipboard deployment.

The service plans to field the AH-1Z Vipers, commonly known as Zulus, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit in November.

It will operate alongside its sister aircraft, the UH-1Y Venom, dubbed the Yankee, which achieved initial operational capability in 2008.

Read more