On another note, they fire a burst right at the very start of the movie; where the hell does it go?

~J

Yep. Just to try and confirm what has already been said, that was the FLIR camera on an AH64 Apache (not sure which model; all use the same cannon). The cannon is, as mcb said, the M230 30mm chain gun, much more powerful than your average HMG. The standard load for that gun is the M789 High Explosive Dual Purpose round, and I'm pretty sure that's what was used here, as the guy in the middle of the target area (the first guy to get smacked) is blown into several warm, thermally active pieces, as you can see when the camera pans from the artillery piece (the second target) to the truck.

the first burst fell either short enough or long enough that its impact area was off-camera; that's why they had to switch from laser ranging to auto ranging.

and as far as why they waited for movement to shoot the vehicles, again--probably something to do with their mission. i really have to doubt that the gunner felt any real reluctance towards shooting people; it's possible that he suddenly realized, right in the middle of a mission, that killing people from a mile or so away wasn't his thing, but it's certainly not likely.

Couldn't that 'first burst' just be some other gunfire near to the helicopter?

Nope; the round counter decrements during it.

~J

the gun could have been aiming in a different direction than the FLIR was looking. I'm sure they have more than one screen up at once for visual input.

I wonder what the first burst shot hit.

for targetting, as i recall, there's only the one screen that's used in an Apache. like i said, if you listen to the conversation between the pilots, you hear them discussing the fact that they need to switch ranging types. the first burst probably undershot or overshot 10-15 meters--likely just a little ways off-screen.

That close and it wasn't noticed? Wow.

~J

well, if that artillery piece was in use recently, most of them probably had earplugs in. i made the 10-15m estimate based on what i've seen when we go to the firing range; it may have been further.

Have to admit, that final shot which leaves the viewer looking at the thermal smooosh of the now dead first target, is rather sobering. Makes me wonder how feasible thermal signature reduction would actually work in SR.

Even turned off those vehicles look really visible. How much thermal reduction would you need to make yourself look like a piece of the road, in that clip?

depends on a whole lot of factors. for instance, that clip is from Iraq; Iraq is hot during the day, which means that when the sun goes down and the air cools off, the ground is going to be putting off a lot of glow; at a guestimate, you probably wouldn't need much during the early part of the evening. as the night wore on and things cooled down, you'd need more and more.