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How many rockets could an AH-1 Cobra carry?

Short answer

Up to 76: the Bell AH-1G Cobra could carry seventy-six rockets, and four M200 launchers fired a salvo of 76 rounds in pairs, at six per second. The 2.75-inch (70mm) rocket launchers were either seven-tube (M158) or nineteen-tube (M200).

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

How many rockets could an AH-1 Cobra carry?
Mc Donnell F-4C Phantom I Is of the 558th TFS in flight over South Vietnam, in December 1968

Seventy-six rockets under the stub wings

The Bell AH-1G Cobra carried up to seventy-six rockets and, with 17-pound warheads, delivered the same initial firepower as a battalion of 105 mm howitzers, a devastating capability for a single helicopter. Four M200 launchers fired that salvo of 76 rockets, launched in pairs at a rate of six per second. The rockets were 2.75 inches (70 mm) and were grouped in launchers of seven tubes, the M158, or nineteen, the M200.

Load and fuel configurations

A Cobra crewman in Vietnam recalled that, with the standard configuration of 52 rockets, his unit used 1,200 pounds of fuel. With the 76-rocket configuration, he believed they carried 1,000 pounds. Folding-fin rockets could also be mounted on the wing stations, in groups of 7 or 19, or XM-18 minigun pods.

The nose turret

Under the nose was the XM-28 turret system, which housed two miniguns or two 40 mm grenade launchers. It could also carry two 7.62 mm miniguns, two M129 40 mm grenade launchers or one of each in the M28 turret, as well as pods with miniguns or 20 mm cannon.

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