Z-20 (all variants) thread

[Wrought]

Given the current drone threat the helicopter launched AAM seems like a good idea to me.

AAMs are major overkill for threats like that. Guided rockets are a better choice, and commonly carried by helicopters already.

 

[gelgoog]

AAMs are major overkill for threats like that. Guided rockets are a better choice, and commonly carried by helicopters already.

Maybe if you add IR sensors and proximity fuses to the rockets like the US did. Otherwise you won't hit jack shit.

At which point you just made a micro AAM.

 

[Wrought]

Maybe if you add IR sensors and proximity fuses to the rockets like the US did. Otherwise you won't hit jack shit.

At which point you just made a micro AAM.

IR sensors and proximity fuses aren't exactly cutting-edge tech. Adding them still runs you at least an order of magnitude cheaper than a proper AAM. And call it whatever you want, but it's not what the helicopter is carrying in that picture.

 

[QIUSIYU]

Z20T

 

[Deino]

Z-20J … from a second

 

[ismellcopium]

Pretty crazy how long the F variant seems to be taking.

 

[ying1978]

Z20T. Credits to Zhanghui

 

[ying1978]

2/2

 

[plawolf]

For a transport helicopter, having to defend against an air threat means a huge tactical error... Other assets are way more adapted to use aam against such threats. For a transport helicopter it would be better to drop your payload (troops) asap than chasing squirrels.

Well it’s seems pretty obvious the AAMs are not meant for self defence. Rather it’s to test and validate using them as an additional defence layer against saturation attacks by cheap Shahed like attack drones and potentially even against higher end cruise missiles like Tomahawks.

Using transport helicopters for such a mission adds significant benefits over other more conventional assets, including lower costs (both fuel and missile); potentially significantly greater endurance and on-station time (especially if you set up FoBs for quick refuel and rearming, maybe even have extra pilots for shift work); significantly greater flexibility in deployment locations (you could potentially forward deploy helicopters to a FoB near or even at the site they are meant to defend).

 

[Heliox]

Well it’s seems pretty obvious the AAMs are not meant for self defence. Rather it’s to test and validate using them as an additional defence layer against saturation attacks by cheap Shahed like attack drones and potentially even against higher end cruise missiles like Tomahawks.

Using transport helicopters for such a mission adds significant benefits over other more conventional assets, including lower costs (both fuel and missile); potentially significantly greater endurance and on-station time (especially if you set up FoBs for quick refuel and rearming, maybe even have extra pilots for shift work); significantly greater flexibility in deployment locations (you could potentially forward deploy helicopters to a FoB near or even at the site they are meant to defend).

I think the point still stands that transport platforms are primarily for transport. That's not to say they cannot be used for other roles and using all available resources to handle swarm attacks is of course something that needs to be done - when it needs to be done.

I don't think PLA has the luxury of a surfeit of troop helos at the moment to be so focused on dedicating rotary wing transports to counter-swarm roles? Otoh, there are numerous (ground) platforms being developed for this specific role.

on FOBs, pushing your FOBs forward also puts your FOBs within range of NLOS loitering munitions without the level of AD umbrella that a airbase will have. Especially for defence of static points of interest, where possible, probably better to push ground assets to handle this. Retain the helos for taskings where their strength can be leveraged, ie. high tactical mobility to respond to tasks quickly within a limited distance.