Z-19 armed recon helicopter
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kwaigonegin
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Do you guys think that China can build a helicopter like this one ?
[video=youtube;GmBIk5RA0EQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmBIk5RA0EQ[/video]
Holy cow! totally forgotten that Dana Carvey was on it. I watched the series a lot when I was a kid.
The Blue Thunder to me makes more sense of a attack helicopter then the WZ-19. What kind of a gunship is it when it doesn't have a gun ? I can't get over the fact the the WZ-19 doesn't come with a gun pod of any kind, hopefully future versions will have a gun turret on it.
Too bad that the "real" Blue Thunder helicopter is a piece of junk, nothing more than a movie prop.
Its a converted second hand SA-341G Gazelle (a civillian version of the SA-341 Gazelle) with bolt on parts on it to make it look more menacing. The interior of the helicopter is all made out of plastic and cardboard. Unfortunately these changes made the helicopter so heavy that it can only achieve less than half of the maximum speed of the Gazelle from 310km/h to 145km/h. Because of these changes the helicopter became nose heavy and that made it dangerous to fly it. After the filming of the movie was over the 2 converted helicopters was sold off to a private owner who in turn rented the helicopters out for the filming of the mini series "Amerika" in 1987 about a Soviet invasion of America. After that the 2 helicopters we're dismanteld and sold off for parts.
For photos of the real Blue Thunder helicopter see here:
P.S. The Airwolf helicopter was sold off after season 3 and it became a rescue helicopter but it crashed in 1992 killing all three occupants inside. So both helicopters are now gone.
Too bad that the "real" Blue Thunder helicopter is a piece of junk, nothing more than a movie prop.
Its a converted second hand SA-341G Gazelle (a civillian version of the SA-341 Gazelle) with bolt on parts on it to make it look more menacing. The interior of the helicopter is all made out of plastic and cardboard. Unfortunately these changes made the helicopter so heavy that it can only achieve less than half of the maximum speed of the Gazelle from 310km/h to 145km/h. Because of these changes the helicopter became nose heavy and that made it dangerous to fly it. After the filming of the movie was over the 2 converted helicopters was sold off to a private owner who in turn rented the helicopters out for the filming of the mini series "Amerika" in 1987 about a Soviet invasion of America. After that the 2 helicopters we're dismanteld and sold off for parts. For photos of the real Blue Thunder helicopter see here:
P.S. The Airwolf helicopter was sold off after season 3 and it became a rescue helicopter but it crashed in 1992 killing all three occupants inside. So both helicopters are now gone.
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Please explain.
Z-19 is an armed scout, Z-10 is a thoroughbred attack helo.
They expect broad roles for attack choppers, and while it can be multiroled by Z-10 as well, recon missions like target scouting, loitering, thread identification is what the Z-19 is designed for. PLA put a strong emphasize on this capability by developing the Z-19 because as we all know, in modern warfare (especially tank killing) first see will also mean the first kill.
This emphasize shows PLA is not cutting any corner on helo support, networked warfare, and their combined arms tactics.
They expect broad roles for attack choppers, and while it can be multiroled by Z-10 as well, recon missions like target scouting, loitering, thread identification is what the Z-19 is designed for. PLA put a strong emphasize on this capability by developing the Z-19 because as we all know, in modern warfare (especially tank killing) first see will also mean the first kill.
This emphasize shows PLA is not cutting any corner on helo support, networked warfare, and their combined arms tactics.
Wouldn't it be safer (and ultimately cheaper, as pilots are pretty expensive) to have the Z-19 role be fulfilled by lightweight drones?
Lightweight wont do it, since the Z-19 isnt just a scout, but actually a light attack helo with enough armor to withstand AAA and enough precision guided ordnance to take out more than just a few targets of opportunity. Also, having seen the Z-19 with mast-mounted MMW radars, its role would be much expanded in the future too, acting as something more than just China's Kiowa, but actually a Cobra-equivalent.
The PLA artillery already operate the ASN-206/7/9 series of tactical recon drones and with the introduction of the Pterodactyl UCAV, the PLA has also an armed drone then. But for the same role the Z-19 would fulfill, one has to wait for models like these to appear in the future:
(Zhuhai 2012)
The PLA artillery already operate the ASN-206/7/9 series of tactical recon drones and with the introduction of the Pterodactyl UCAV, the PLA has also an armed drone then. But for the same role the Z-19 would fulfill, one has to wait for models like these to appear in the future:
(Zhuhai 2012)
Got it. That makes a bit more sense.
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