default762792 Posted March 25, 2015 Posted March 25, 2015 I figured out that it's possible to put a GUV YaKB on one side and a UPK on the other, or even better, a GUV YaKB on one side and a UPK as well as GUV AP-30 on the other. The helicopter flies fine and both or all three pods can be fired (one at a time, of course). Leaving aside the question of whether or not anybody operating Mi-8s or Mi-17s in real life would want to do this (I came across the phrase "operationally useless" in a thread about asymmetric loadouts in the Ka-50), should this be actually be possible if perhaps silly or is it something Belsimtek either forgot or didn't bother to make impossible in the sim?
Slazi Posted March 25, 2015 Posted March 25, 2015 May just be down to flight characteristics. An unbalanced helicopter is harder to fly and less predictable. I can't really imagine much practical benefit of it either. But perhaps we should be able to do it? I don't know.
ED Team Raptor9 Posted March 25, 2015 ED Team Posted March 25, 2015 There are a lot of considerations when making an asymmetric loadout. Differential drag at high speeds, different weights of the loadouts; both of which are exacerbated the further out on the pylons you mount them. Not to mention that if you fire a gun pod on one side, the nose will pull to that side from the asymmetric recoil. If you use all your ordinance on one side and still have full ordinance on the other, etc. In the Ka-50's case, you also have the weapon system limitation of only being able to select the inner or outer pylons to differentiate between two types of weapons. If you have a rocket pod on the left outboard pylon and a Vikhr missile rack on the right outboard, you can't switch back and forth. Afterburners are for wussies...hang around the battlefield and dodge tracers like a man. DCS Rotor-Head
default762792 Posted March 25, 2015 Author Posted March 25, 2015 I fiddled with it a bit more. The Mi-8 seems to fly well enough and the switching between pods (and separate systems within pods in the case of the GUV YaKB) works as if they were mounted symmetrically. I don't know of what utility it is, other than marginally greater flexibility in engaging troops both hidden and in the open as well as light armored vehicles at the cost of only carrying half the ammunition for a given weapon and whatever accuracy penalty asymmetric recoil imposes, or for training purposes if one had to cram getting a feel for the ballistics of four separate types of projectile into one flight. Other than aerodynamic and recoil issues, I was mainly wondering if there was some electrical or mechanical reason this sort of configuration wouldn't work, which I suppose is a pretty obscure question and maybe one with no definitive answer.
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