reply to post by Zaphod58
I'm going to refer you to a Wikipedia page. Yes, I know its wiki and therefore of questionable reliability, but the sources can be delved into for
concrete proof.
Wiki link on armed transport helos
I havent quite figured out how to quote an external source so it appears in its own cool little box, but here is a bit from that wiki page:
ESSS
The External Stores Support System (ESSS) provides two stub wings each with two hard points for primarily for external fuel tanks, but can also be
used to carry various weapon systems. When equipped with the Extended Range Fuel System (ERFS), the system can support two 230 gallon or 450 gallon
external tanks. The system only feeds into the main fuel tank, not the engines directly.[66] The ESSS can also be fitted with a wide range of weapons
including up to sixteen AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, rockets and gun pods, and other systems.[67]
Here is a better, more reliable link:
Janes
and a pic with 16 hellfire anti-tank missiles:
external image
Further, the medevac models generally have a large red cross on the bottom, a smaller one on the nose, and one on each door, not behind since having
one behind the dorrs would become obscured when the doors were open. These markings should have been visible in the pic provided at the least a big
white splotch would have been visible on the bottom.
After a photoshop zoom I can make out no stub wings (and therefore no external stores), so I'd venture to say this particular blackhawk was nothing
more than a routine flight.
What I wonder is how the OP determined this was a "black" helicopter and not an ordinary standard military issue blackhawk. and what exactly is a
ground sweep configuration, what equipment differentiates a run-of-the-mill blackhawk from a ground sweep configuration.
[edit on 7-5-2008 by Coshy]
[edit on 7-5-2008 by Coshy]
