Neither. They are both based on the OH-58/Bell 206 and OH-6/Hughes 350/500 series which date to the 1960s Light Observation Helicopter competition. They are dated and low performing compared to anything coming out of Eurocopter.
If you want to have a decent chopper here is what you need to do:
1. Drop the weapon wings and droopsnoot FLIR as it really drags the chopper up and light helos just don't have the fuel or the power reserves to be pushing that amount of crap through the air.
2. Attach a really big fan to the ass end of the cabin and mount large, conformal, air intakes on either side of the doghouse to feed it. Use the tail boom as a forcing plenum to channel that air (thumb on garden hose) and a slide or rotary valve ejector to push the resulting jet of air left or right (anti-torque) or straight out the back. This lets you dump the blade mesh problem of a conventional coax, the weigh and airframe coupling of a stiff coax and stick with a stiff, conventional, (gyro stabilized) rotor for the primary lift. All while providing _significant_ forward thrust without the bob-weight problems of the VTDP.
3. DROP fire all munitions from 500-1,500ft and specifically design a range of small, lethal, drones that act like hounds ahead of the horseman in a cougar chase. Finding the threats so that you don't have to. Dropping on them like a stooping hawk.
4. Stick with the cabin design because it's cleaner than a gunship with better drag coefficients but shift to one man operation because that narrows the frontal area, lightens the weight and lowers the operating costs (civilian critical). Use ARTI level automation to make single pilot ops close to the ground practical.
Sticking with a cabin lets you put either 4 men or 1,000lbs in the back (liason). Or a sensor operator with RORO reconnaissance pallet as _Side Looking Sensors_ (recce). Or a full pallet of variable stack missiles and minigun through the drop-out weapons bay door. (stealth attack).
5. If you want a 200-300 knot capability, add lift wings as part of a BWB shape with, I presume, shoulder attachments for heavy stores pylons (attack), as needed.
Essentially, the best design for a modern light utility chopper is something like a modernized version of this-
Simply because the combination of speed, composite airframe and genuine single-pilotage operations will make it possible to do things that current _civilian_ dominated operators cannot achieve. And the military can ride their coat tails in a platform which will, in any case, be miles and decades higher performing than the Cold War legacy systems we get by with today.
Yes it is but it has no flimsy FBW controls to damage either. If you nick a FBW bunde it can short, if you nick the control lines you keep only flying. The A-10 did not have any FBW controls for this reason. Every other aircraft of its generation has FBW or a hybrid mechanical/FBW system.
The Iraqis already have a similar configuration :
ReplyDeletehttp://globalmilitaryreview.blogspot.com/2013/06/iraqi-armed-ia-407-bell-helicopter.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo all the Helo guys , here's a question what is better the armed version of the Bell-407 or the latest versions of the MD-530F ?
ReplyDeleteNeither. They are both based on the OH-58/Bell 206 and OH-6/Hughes 350/500 series which date to the 1960s Light Observation Helicopter competition. They are dated and low performing compared to anything coming out of Eurocopter.
DeleteIf you want to have a decent chopper here is what you need to do:
1. Drop the weapon wings and droopsnoot FLIR as it really drags the chopper up and light helos just don't have the fuel or the power reserves to be pushing that amount of crap through the air.
2. Attach a really big fan to the ass end of the cabin and mount large, conformal, air intakes on either side of the doghouse to feed it. Use the tail boom as a forcing plenum to channel that air (thumb on garden hose) and a slide or rotary valve ejector to push the resulting jet of air left or right (anti-torque) or straight out the back. This lets you dump the blade mesh problem of a conventional coax, the weigh and airframe coupling of a stiff coax and stick with a stiff, conventional, (gyro stabilized) rotor for the primary lift. All while providing _significant_ forward thrust without the bob-weight problems of the VTDP.
3. DROP fire all munitions from 500-1,500ft and specifically design a range of small, lethal, drones that act like hounds ahead of the horseman in a cougar chase. Finding the threats so that you don't have to. Dropping on them like a stooping hawk.
4. Stick with the cabin design because it's cleaner than a gunship with better drag coefficients but shift to one man operation because that narrows the frontal area, lightens the weight and lowers the operating costs (civilian critical). Use ARTI level automation to make single pilot ops close to the ground practical.
Sticking with a cabin lets you put either 4 men or 1,000lbs in the back (liason). Or a sensor operator with RORO reconnaissance pallet as _Side Looking Sensors_ (recce). Or a full pallet of variable stack missiles and minigun through the drop-out weapons bay door. (stealth attack).
5. If you want a 200-300 knot capability, add lift wings as part of a BWB shape with, I presume, shoulder attachments for heavy stores pylons (attack), as needed.
Essentially, the best design for a modern light utility chopper is something like a modernized version of this-
McDonnell LHX Concept
http://hud607.fire.prohosting.com/uncommon/reference/usa/images/md_bell_lhx_01.jpg
http://s246.photobucket.com/user/Norman_Rockwell/media/Aircraft%20Profiles/lhx-u_245.jpg.html
http://hud607.fire.prohosting.com/uncommon/reference/usa/images/md_bell_lhx_03.jpg
Simply because the combination of speed, composite airframe and genuine single-pilotage operations will make it possible to do things that current _civilian_ dominated operators cannot achieve. And the military can ride their coat tails in a platform which will, in any case, be miles and decades higher performing than the Cold War legacy systems we get by with today.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis is a rather old basic design, there are quite a few much more modern ones out there.
ReplyDeleteYes it is but it has no flimsy FBW controls to damage either. If you nick a FBW bunde it can short, if you nick the control lines you keep only flying. The A-10 did not have any FBW controls for this reason. Every other aircraft of its generation has FBW or a hybrid mechanical/FBW system.
DeleteFYI Here is the best selling helo in the world right now at about 800 new builds per year:
Deletehttp://www.robinsonheli.com/rhc_r44_raven_series.html
And just about every other helo in the world in more advanced than this one.
And from the picture am I to assume this chopper is going to be sold to your Arab Allies in the war agaisnt ISIS and buling against Iran?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the "Rudra" varient of the HAL ALH.
ReplyDelete