Italian Helicopter that looks like the Apache

Okay this helicopter can be armed with Raytheon Stinger missiles, or Mistral air to air missiles. Can fire Lockheed Martin hellfire missiles, or TOW 2 against tanks. Its also armed with a 20mm cannon, and either four 70mm rocket launchers , or 4 81mm rocket launchers. It can carry 8 hellfire or TOW 2 missiles, 500 20MM gun rounds, 4 to 8 air to air missiles, 76 70mm rockets, and 38 81mm rockets.

A129 multi role combat
helicopter

What do ya guys think of this helicopter? I think it has very good armor protection, 50% of the design is made out of composite materials. And pretty much the whole design has protecion against 12.7 mm armor piercing rounds.

I think the Mangusta is an excellent helicopter, However I also think it looks like the Apache in only the most vague and superficial sense but I wont go into that as I must sound like a stuck record sometimes.

Cosmeticaly (spelling?) I don't like its appearance at all. It looks very boxy and not as aerodynamic and sleek as the apache. However, with all those arrmaments, it looks like it could dish out a serious beating. Final say: If I was head of a military force, I would invest my money in other projects.

I know that opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and they all stink and all that, but I think completely the opposite, if anything is 'boxy' then the Apache is the epitome of it while the Mangusta is far more aerodynamic, for a helicopter.

I think it's more comparable to the Tigre and the Mi-28 looks wise.

I kinda like it's 20mm multibarrel cannon that can be pointed all sorts of directions like the Apache's M230 gun.

I kinda like it, but I wouldn't go so far to call it my favorite, my favorite choppers:

Mi-28 Havoc, Mi-24 Hind, AH-1Z King Cobra and the AH-64 Apache.

They all have a unique look, like em all equally.

I have to agree it does look more boxy than the Apache, but my favorite Helicopter and the sleekest of them all is the AH-1W Super Cobra.

Here is a pic of the helicopter.


The launchers look alot different to me, I think those would be the anti-tank Mistral Missile launchers.

[edit on 12-6-2005 by blue cell]

The Mangusta was the first European attack helicopter of modern design with two person seating front to back. When it first came out it did not have a cannon and the only weapon it was really designed to fire was the TOW anti tank missile. It was designed to take down hords of Soviet tanks. After the Italians went to Somalia they found that a cannon could be very helpful so after that they installed cannons on the Mangusta and modified its system so it could fire more weapons.

Edit: It was also an entry in the new recon helicopter competion held by the US army to replace the OH-58.

[edit on 6/12/05 by jetsetter]

One of the guys at work, a training courseware designer who was a retired W-4, took a one-year job with Agusta about seven years ago as a RDT&E pilot (they were looking for someone with A-model Apache experience). He came back raving about the beauty of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy and the fact that he got $100k (US) for flying in a cool airplane and then talking about it.

He said it was a great little helicopter, about 90 pecent of the Apache for about 70 percent of the price, but no one would buy it on the international market because it didn't have the logistical tail that McDonnell Douglas or Bell did.

And he was right. The Agusta, Denel, and Kamov are all good solid acceptable airplanes (the Russians would probably GIVE the Kamov away) but no one bought them because of supportability considerations.

As far as I know, only the Italians fly the A129 helicopter, since both Germany and France were required politically to buy the Tiger, Australia got a Tiger factory, the Turks ordered the Whiskey Cobra (they're re-thinking that, BTW) and almost everyone else bought the A- or D-model Apaches.

Interestingly enough, Westland Helicopters, the first company to build the Apache Longbow under license, has since merged with Agusta. Had this been done ten years earlier, the Brits might've been flying the A129 instead of the WAH-64.

By the way, both the Westland and the Subaru Apache Longbows have a few whizzbangs that the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) one doesn't, although it doesn't have much to do with performance or firepower.