The Cobras made the flight up to Bagram Air Base, near Kabul, to help out. Hagenbeck had to send out an emergency call for help to Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra helicopters at sea on USS Bonhomme Richard. However, the eight Apaches that he had sent on a sweep of the objective area at the start of Anaconda were hit so many times by enemy fire that only three came through in flyable condition. When asked about close air support (CAS) operations, Hagenbeck said: “The most effective close air support asset we had was the Apache, hands down.” The Army’s AH-64 Apache helicopter is the service’s principal combat aviation system.
“We have a huge procedural and training issue we’ve got to work through with our Air Force friends.”.“By the time the AWACS handed a target off, the Air Force said, it took 26 minutes to calculate the DMPI anywhere from 26 minutes to hours (on occasion) for the precision munitions to hit the targets.”.“The Air Force had to work through airspace management-aircraft were stacked up to the ceiling and could only be flown in in a few numbers.”.When it came to the Air Force, though, Hagenbeck took a very different view. Hagenbeck heaped praise on Navy and Marine Corps pilots, pointing out that they routinely flew low in support of the land forces. However, he also took the opportunity to make ill-informed comments about Air Force operations. In it, the Army officer endeavored to defend decisions he had made in the operation. The Hagenbeck interview marked a low point in the Anaconda affair.
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