S-70 Battlehawk!

www.globalsecurity.org...

The Sikorsky S-70 Battle Hawk helicopter -- with a turreted 20mm cannon -- brings true battlefield versatility to the Australian Army's AIR-87 Armed Reconnaissance program. The Battlehawk being offered to the Australian Army is a variant of the Blackhawk helicopter for the armed reconnaissance and attack applications. It is based on the UH-60L aircraft in service today with the U.S. Army, and incorporates numerous improvements to the UH-60A -- on which Australia's S-70A-9 Army Blackhawk, is based.

Among the most significant improvements is the change from T700-GE-700 engines with 1,560 shp each to T700-GE-701C engines with 1,890 shp each and an uprated 3,400 shp gearbox to handle them. Other improvements also include better electromagnetic and corrosion protection and a 9,000 lb rated cargo hook. With these improvements, the Battlehawk helicopter is able to meet the AIR-87 mission requirements, along with an additional 1,000 to 1,500 lb payload capability for fuel, weapons reload, external load or other payloads for mission flexibility.

It has Blackhawk survivability features that have been battlefield-proven in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Turkey, Bosnia, Colombia and Desert Storm. The Battlehawk helicopter has dash speed and agility capabilities that few dedicated attack helicopters can match and none can exceed.

The major Battlehawk weapons feature is the 20mm GIAT THL 20 turreted gun. Its location under the cabin provides a rugged, simple integration. The gun can be slaved to the Elbit Systems Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) cueing, or to the Elbit Systems Toplite II Targeting Sensor Line of Sight. Ammunition is stored in the cabin and fed to the gun through one 90-degree bend, versus up to seven such bends with nose-mounted gun turrets, providing unparalleled accessibility, feed and ease of reload.

Past weapons integration on the Blackhawk using the External Stores/Weapons System (ESWS) have included Hellfire missiles, 2.75-inch Rockets, Stinger Missiles and various gun pods including 7.65 mm, 20mm and 30mm cannon. One current operational configuration has dual 30mm chain guns, dual 7.65mm machine guns and Hellfire missiles and rockets, more than doubling the firepower of existing attack helicopters. The ESWS also can accommodate up to four 230 gallon external fuel pods.

The Elbit Systems MIDASH (Modular Integrated Display and Sight Helmet) provides highly accurate helmet tracking, flight and weapons symbology for day and night operations. It features state-of-the-art image intensifiers for night pilotage. It is lighter and more ergonomically designed with a larger field of view (FOV) than existing HMD systems. The Elbit Systems Toplite II Targeting Sensor System has FLIR, Daytime TV and laser Designator and Rangefinder for search and weapon designation.

The Battlehawk helicopter has a full "glass" cockpit with Rockwell Collins active matrix color LCD Multifunction Displays and CDUs. They result in a significantly smaller instrument panel with 27 degrees visibility over the nose, 12 degrees more than most attack pilot cockpits. The narrower panel also improves lateral and downward visibility using chin windows nonexistent on current attack helicopters. The HMDs and HOCAS (Hands on Collective and Stick) features of the Battlehawk helicopter enable either pilot or copilot to perform piloting, search, comm or weapons tasks while maintaining "eyes up, hands on."

Thats a pretty cool helo armed with weapons of an attack helo while providing transport. We had the Huey but it was not able to carry alot of weaponry while providing transport for the troops. And of course the Russians have the famous helo the Hind aka Mi-24.

I wonder if this will replace the Apache? Seems it would be far more versatile and would give way more bang for their buck.

Darn tootin'. Darned nice options package on that variant.

Of course, before someone else points it out, the mindset of theater targets will change once they get a few thousand pounds of rounds shot at them.

Then it won't matter that the thing has a nice red cross with a white background on it. Just an observation, hopefully I'm wrong.

While I'm at it, I thought the great remote aircraft were supposed to make this stuff obsolete. Sometimes the Pentagon is confusing as hell.

reply to post by Darkmask


The idea behind this is this. A squad is being dropped off in a hot zone. The variant will provide close in support without having to call in a strike. Cleaning the LZ of bad guys.

The Apache is a sneak up and annihilate machine, a tank killer, a wipe out the enemy, a hope you can find some DNA from that dude. The Apache will lay to waste a target from a greater distance with a smaller footprint.

reply to post by deltaboy


Now THAT is some heavy metal.

S & F

She'll definitely ruin you day if you're on the bad end of the gun. I wonder if they have an anti-sub naval variant? Seeing the payload package, I bet they do.

Originally posted by billxam
Darn tootin'. Darned nice options package on that variant.

Of course, before someone else points it out, the mindset of theater targets will change once they get a few thousand pounds of rounds shot at them.

Then it won't matter that the thing has a nice red cross with a white background on it. Just an observation, hopefully I'm wrong.

While I'm at it, I thought the great remote aircraft were supposed to make this stuff obsolete. Sometimes the Pentagon is confusing as hell.

With you brother. Let's see them run a sub by remote control. That is one helluva war machine though. Glad to see anything that supports the guys in the mud who spill the blood.

So there's finally a Western variant of what a Mi-24 Hind brings to the field.

By the way, isn't Sikorsky a Russian company?

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

dude, I always thought it was Russian, too. It totally sounds russian, but it turns out its an american company.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


You tell me, is it Russian owned or just somebody who is Russian.

Originally posted by deltaboy
reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

 

You tell me, is it Russian owned or just somebody who is Russian.

I always thought it was a Russian company that started selling weapons internationally after 1990. This was compounded when some Canadian politicians were talking about upgrading our helicopter fleet, and they said the Russians were an option with Sikorsky Cyclones. Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding in the press or something.

And of course, Sikorsky is screwing us over with the contract by not supplying us with our helicopters by a factor of years. Good luck with buying a bunch of Battlehawks.

That is a good lookin machine
it remind's me a bit of the Huey Bush-ranger the RAAF used in Vietnam



As for Mr Sikorsky

Sikorsky was founded in 1925 by aircraft engineer Igor Sikorsky, a Kiev-born American immigrant.[1] The company, named "Sikorsky Manufacturing Company", began aircraft production in Roosevelt, New York that year. In 1929 the company moved to Stratford, Connecticut. It became a part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) in July of that year.[2] Igor Sikorsky developed the Sikorsky R-4, the first stable, single-rotor, fully-controllable helicopter to enter large full-scale production in 1942, upon which the majority of subsequent helicopters were based (though he did not invent the helicopter itself).

en.wikipedia.org...

I don't see this as a replacement of the Apache. Still too different a role. (Apache is dedicated to killing tanks and the like.) What this does is it's taking the existing idea of the Pavehawk and stepping it up a notch. The U.S. saw that the Russians had a fairly good idea with the Hind in regards to having a fully armed helicopter capable of forward troop insertion or extraction. So it's just applying that same concept to an existing platform that already works well. Thus, what you see here.

The Hind also wouldn't be a first. I'm guessing the Russians started floating the idea for that one when they saw us putting rockets and guns on Hueys, before the dedicated Cobra attack helicopters started being built. It's one of those concepts that goes around and comes around.

reply to post by pauljs75


Hind As were around since the early 60s. Were Hueys even around then?

Also the Hind is clearly a gunship advancement on the Hip transport model.

Sikorsky has been toying with this blackhawk varient for a while. Having an armed transport chopper is a great idea. Most fly in two-ship formations and can provide cover for one another. Either way, its good that they are capitalizing on the design.

On the note of the Hind, it was extremely powerful but also overweight when fully loaded. They would have to do rolling takeoffs when fully loaded but once airborne they were a flying APC.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


No Sikorsky is American.. It's founder Egor Sikorsky did immigrate from Russia though.. In the 1920's I believe.

Guess I should have kept on reading. (edit)