The U.S. Army Built Night-Fighting Gunships to Hunt the Viet Cong

By JOSEPH TREVITHICK

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Heavily-armed helicopter gunships became a fixture of America’s war in Vietnam. But the U.S. Army’s low-flying attack choppers were pretty terrible at spotting the Viet Cong at night.

In 1967, the ground combat branch hired the Hughes Aircraft Corporation to design a night-fighting kit for the UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, more commonly known as the Huey.

The entire system—the chopper, guns and night vision gear—became known as the Iroquois Night Fighter and Night Tracker, or INFANT.

But by the time Hughes had delivered its first INFANT systems, the Huey gunships were becoming obsolete. They simply couldn’t compete with the newer AH-1 Cobra — the world’s first truly purpose-built attack helicopter.