Helicopter Fighters

[ChernayaAkula]

Ah, I see. Now I get it.

[rickshaw]

Moritz......many thanks n I'm aware of the limited movement of the Ka50 gun.....what I meant was a trainable mount like on most other armed helicopters like the AH64,Mi24D,cobra n suchlike......

Are quite inaccurate, as you've surmised.  The difference between where the system thinks its pointing the target, where the pilot is pointing his helicopter and where the target actually are (particularly if its moving) are such that you've got very little chance of hitting a target with the first round if the weapon is manually aimed.  Of course, with something like Longbow, it would be possible to slave it to the radar and let a computer do the calculations.  Much more accurate but still not 100% or even 95+%.

[dy031101]

I have to say that P277 Fledermaus caught my eyes- AFAIK the only other AH being actively advertised as being capable of carrying more than eight AAMs of any kind is the WZ-10 (sixteen TY-90).

[Hobbes]

Moritz......many thanks n I'm aware of the limited movement of the Ka50 gun.....what I meant was a trainable mount like on most other armed helicopters like the AH64,Mi24D,cobra n suchlike......

Are quite inaccurate, as you've surmised.  The difference between where the system thinks its pointing the target, where the pilot is pointing his helicopter and where the target actually are (particularly if its moving) are such that you've got very little chance of hitting a target with the first round if the weapon is manually aimed.  Of course, with something like Longbow, it would be possible to slave it to the radar and let a computer do the calculations.  Much more accurate but still not 100% or even 95+%.

That's odd. You'd think they would use the optical turret to provide detailed targeting info (like the MiG-29, where the gun is slaved to the IRST).

[Maverick]

Hobbes, when you say the MiG's gun is slaved to the IRST, what do you mean?  I assume the gun would be fixed in the fuselage so I'm wondering what use the IRST ball would have in any gun firing, beyond letting the pilot know he was within range to use the weapon.

Regards,

Mav

[Hobbes]

IIRC, the gun is allowed to fire only when the IRST concludes there is a target in the crosshairs. This means the bullets aren't wasted firing into empty space.

[GTX]

Does anyone have a good 3 view drawing (or even better a cutaway) of this - want to file for future scratch build!



Regards,

Greg

[Cobra]

Greag, Don't know about Cut away but.., that Pic looks like something they Offered in the G.I.Joe line back in the 80's, i think. check out www.yojoe.com to see what i mean. Dan

[Weaver]

Hobbes, when you say the MiG's gun is slaved to the IRST, what do you mean?  I assume the gun would be fixed in the fuselage so I'm wondering what use the IRST ball would have in any gun firing, beyond letting the pilot know he was within range to use the weapon.

Regards,

Mav

The IRST (which incorporates a laser rangefinder) feeds target bearing and range into the fire control system which puts an accurate "where your rounds will go" cue on the HUD. The pilot then flies that cue onto the target. I'm not sure if the Russian system incorporates a "Fire-Fly" system, as tested on F-15s and Viggens, which cross-linked the sensor (in their case the radar) directly to both the fire and flight control systems, allowing the fire-control to fly the aircraft onto target directly. This achieved some near-impossible kills in tests, but I'm not sure if it was ever deployed.

[Maverick]

Thanks for the info guys.  I figured that the IR tracker would enhance the gun's capabilities but not completely take over which sounds very over-tech to me veering into the UAV world.

Regards,

Mav

[chrisonord]

This thread has got me rummaging through the box of dead models in the shed, to dig out a wrecked PAH-2 Tiger that I turned into a helicopter fighter a very long time ago. The fuselage has seen better times, but it is salvageable, and the Dauphin tail fan will go back on easy enough too.
I won't bother with the booster jets on it this time round, and I will change a few other things on it too.
So that is now 4 models on hold while I hack this thing to bits and rebuild it 
Cheers,
Chris.

[Taiidantomcat]

Great news 

[Army of One]

Oh yes,gotta see that.......any more info on it....?

[chrisonord]

Did some more work on it tonight, some more putty on the tail fan joint, weapons sponsons from an OV-10 modded and glued onto the fuselage, new fixed tricycle landing gear, radar bump on the nose. Just hoping the canopy will go on as it is one which was removed from another dead pah-2.
weaponry so far, 4 aim-9's, 2 aim-120's, 2 .50;s in one sponson and a 30 cannon in the other. Been doing a Mi-24 also which is not far off finished too 
Chris.

[Army of One]

Loaded for bear then.........cool.....seen the Cartel Hind... ......looking forward to the PAH-2 creation.......