Design

• Bell built this helicopter with a single-body design and fixed landing gear. It draws power from a pair of General Electric T700-GE-401 Turboshaft engines, each of which produces 1,690 horsepower. The Cobra's tandem seat arrangement seats two, with the gunner situated in front of the pilot, who sits in an elevated position behind him. Cobras use a two-blade rotor design on both the head and tail rotors.
  
  

Dimensions

• A Cobra stood 13.5 feet in height with an overall length of 53 feet. The width of the helicopter over the landing gear spanned 7.35 feet (and it maintained a small, 38-inch width down the length of the fuselage). This small width made it a difficult target for enemy forces to hit. The stub wings that held the side armaments had a width of 10.3 feet. The Cobra's head rotor diameter measured 44 feet. When empty, the Cobra weighed 10,204 lbs., with a total load of 4,547 lbs. split between fuel, armament and munitions. It could take off with a maximum weight of 14,731 lbs.
  
  

Flight

• The Cobra's twin engines gave it a maximum speed of 152 knots (173 mph) during level flight and a top speed of 170 knots (195 mph). It climbed at a rate of 1,925 feet per minute (800.5 feet per minute with one engine out) and reached a peak altitude of 14,750 feet (almost three miles). A Cobra reached its hover ceiling (the point at which it could hover while fully loaded) at 14,747 feet over land and 3,000 feet over water. These helicopters had a range of 274 nautical miles (315 miles over land).
  
  

Armament

• Bell designed the Cobra for ground and air support and anti-personnel and anti-armor attack roles. The company offered the Cobra with a number of munitions and armament choices. Common weapons systems included a front-mounted 7.62 mm minigun and an accompanying 40 mm automatic grenade launcher. Underneath the stub wings, a cobra could house three 20 mm cannons, up to four air-to-surface missiles or two sizes of rockets. The tips of the stub wings could each hold one air-to-air missile, using either a Stinger or a Sidewinder. Each Cobra also featured a countermeasure system that released flares or heated chaff that would draw heat-seeking missiles away from the Cobra.