Re: Type054A & SH-60 Helos
If a naval Z-20 can fill up the current ships that can hold Ka-28, I'd consider that more than enough.
The current 054As, and 052B/C/Ds can hold a Ka-28 or a Z-9 (both with folded rotors of course, but Z-9 isn't designed with a folding tail), and a naval Z-20 will obviously have both folded rotor and a folded tail to follow in seahawk's footsteps.
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I'll address your concerns from earlier this year below
Well it would be interesting to do a similar comparison with 1/350 sized Ka-28s to see if the squeeze is as prominent.
Yes, but I think we should give them the benefit of doubt, because I imagine most ships are designed with hangars in mind to be able to hold as many potential different helicopter types a ship may be expected to embark in its entire multi decade service life.
Sure, a Z-20 may be a little bit more of a squeeze in a PLAN hangar (although I doubt that, mostly because the absolute fuselage width of a folded Z-20/seahawk isn't that much more than a Ka-28s), and that may effect maintenance "efficiency," however I think the helicopter can definitely fit in.
Here is a picture of a Ka-28 in a PLAN hangar. I'm not sure which ship it is, unfortunately.
But a Ka-28 has a fuselage width of 3.8 meters and a folded length of 12.25m from what I've scoured, here in particular:
The SH-60 has a folded+fuselage width of 3.3m folded length of 12.5m (from the sikorsky website )
So I think even if all current PLAN ships, if they can accommodate a Ka-28 comfortably, then they should have the dimensions for a folded SH-60 too. I'm not making any claims about how efficiently they can do maintenance or whatever, and they might have to reorganize their hangar interior and rearrange knick knacks for the different geometries of the two helicopters, but I believe it can be done.
There will always be a bit of doubt until they actually do it, of course, but at this stage I think we have enough numbers, along with Jeff's own demonstration with accurate models, to make the possibility very convincing.
If a naval Z-20 can fill up the current ships that can hold Ka-28, I'd consider that more than enough.
The current 054As, and 052B/C/Ds can hold a Ka-28 or a Z-9 (both with folded rotors of course, but Z-9 isn't designed with a folding tail), and a naval Z-20 will obviously have both folded rotor and a folded tail to follow in seahawk's footsteps.
--
I'll address your concerns from earlier this year below
Well it would be interesting to do a similar comparison with 1/350 sized Ka-28s to see if the squeeze is as prominent.
Yes, but I think we should give them the benefit of doubt, because I imagine most ships are designed with hangars in mind to be able to hold as many potential different helicopter types a ship may be expected to embark in its entire multi decade service life.
Sure, a Z-20 may be a little bit more of a squeeze in a PLAN hangar (although I doubt that, mostly because the absolute fuselage width of a folded Z-20/seahawk isn't that much more than a Ka-28s), and that may effect maintenance "efficiency," however I think the helicopter can definitely fit in.
Here is a picture of a Ka-28 in a PLAN hangar. I'm not sure which ship it is, unfortunately.
But a Ka-28 has a fuselage width of 3.8 meters and a folded length of 12.25m from what I've scoured, here in particular:
The SH-60 has a folded+fuselage width of 3.3m folded length of 12.5m (from the sikorsky website )
So I think even if all current PLAN ships, if they can accommodate a Ka-28 comfortably, then they should have the dimensions for a folded SH-60 too. I'm not making any claims about how efficiently they can do maintenance or whatever, and they might have to reorganize their hangar interior and rearrange knick knacks for the different geometries of the two helicopters, but I believe it can be done.
There will always be a bit of doubt until they actually do it, of course, but at this stage I think we have enough numbers, along with Jeff's own demonstration with accurate models, to make the possibility very convincing.
