What Should be the Next Helicopter?

[Oubaas]

+1 ... with the caveat of maximum-possible fidelty: PFM + ASM.

 

Yeah, I should have added that. But if they meet that standard, I want them. All of 'em.

 

Oubaas :D

[Sierra99]

And MY list was conditioned on my best (not-very-well-informed) assessment of what would be possible. My criteria was that some of those aircraft are still flying in newer variants, but original variants are all retired, and older variants are different enough from current active ones so as not result in information/data embargos compromising the older variant simulation. So, for example, the CH-47 has been flying for approximately the same time as the UH-1H to make it seem to me a pretty viable simulation target. But, it seemed to me, the OH-58, AH-64, and UH-60 are much newer, so even though variants of these are still flying side-by-side variants of the CH-47 today, I did not think they would be able to be simulated as well. I could be wrong. But hey, it's just a silly poll.

 

Sorry that it offended you, and sorry if some particular helicopter that you wanted was not on the list.

 

LAWL...Bother I'm not offended. I apologize...humor doesn't translate into writing sometimes.

 

I think there is a lot of confusion about why we have some aircraft and not others...For example you listed the Chinook as being as old as the Huey but the Chinook is still in production today. The UH-60 has numerous military versions AND civilian variants. There is nothing "classified" about LA County's fire choppers but we still can't have them in DCS. The OH-58 is nothing but a new version of the Hughes 500D...thousands of them in civilian service...so I'm not sure why nobody has or is allowed to bring them into DCS.

 

Perhaps someone farther up the food chain will enlighten us.

 

Again, not offended and I'm sorry if you felt I was.

 

Sierra

[Vampyre]

The UH-60 has numerous military versions AND civilian variants. There is nothing "classified" about LA County's fire choppers but we still can't have them in DCS. The OH-58 is nothing but a new version of the Hughes 500D...thousands of them in civilian service...so I'm not sure why nobody has or is allowed to bring them into DCS.

 

... and we sold S-70's to the Chinese in the 80's so I doubt there is really anything secret about the civilian versions of the Blackhawk. The OH-58A-C are basically the militarized versions of the Bell 206. What everyone here is talking about, I assume because it is the one I want, is the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior which is a more advanced version with a four bladed main rotor, rockets, machine guns, AGM-114's, FIM-92's and the MMS for scouting and target designation purposes. The Army versions of the Hughes 500 (or MD-500) are the OH-6 Cayuse and A/MH-6 Little Birds which would be fun as well.

[Bearfoot]

LAWL...Bother I'm not offended. I apologize...humor doesn't translate into writing sometimes.

 

I think there is a lot of confusion about why we have some aircraft and not others...For example you listed the Chinook as being as old as the Huey but the Chinook is still in production today. The UH-60 has numerous military versions AND civilian variants. There is nothing "classified" about LA County's fire choppers but we still can't have them in DCS. The OH-58 is nothing but a new version of the Hughes 500D...thousands of them in civilian service...so I'm not sure why nobody has or is allowed to bring them into DCS.

 

Perhaps someone farther up the food chain will enlighten us.

 

Again, not offended and I'm sorry if you felt I was.

 

Sierra

 

Yes, sometimes difficult to read correctly between the lines!

 

Either way, point taken. I see what you mean: it is not as simple as new or old, in service or not. I think access to flight performance data is important, but no idea how this is quantified or for what platforms it is available for. I just assumed that anything with an advanced sensor suite is probably going to be tricky. Though I imagine if there is a sufficient funding from an interested party, obstacles will be removed: witness the ANG and the A-10C, and I think the UK and the Typhoon?

 

Ok, if all helicopters are possible, then I would readily add the AH-64, UH-60, OH-58 to the list. I suspect we will see the Whiskey Cobra and Mi-24 before any of those though ...

[Legioneod]

sikorsky h-19 chickasaw, very cool early helicopter.

[Bearfoot]

sikorsky h-19 chickasaw, very cool early helicopter.

 

So, the H-19/S-55 Chicasaw was developed into the H-34/S-58 Choctaw, which in turn was developed into the Westland Wessex for British service. This type saw action in Borneo and the Falklands.

[King_Hrothgar]

... and we sold S-70's to the Chinese in the 80's so I doubt there is really anything secret about the civilian versions of the Blackhawk. The OH-58A-C are basically the militarized versions of the Bell 206. What everyone here is talking about, I assume because it is the one I want, is the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior which is a more advanced version with a four bladed main rotor, rockets, machine guns, AGM-114's, FIM-92's and the MMS for scouting and target designation purposes. The Army versions of the Hughes 500 (or MD-500) are the OH-6 Cayuse and A/MH-6 Little Birds which would be fun as well.

 

I think a lot of people here greatly over-estimate what is and isn't allowed due to secrecy. The OH-58D is in the process of being scrapped, only a handful remain in active service. Now it does have secret parts still, but the thing is, we aren't trying to build the actual aircraft, only a video game representation of it. The fact that the IFF circuit boards are a closely guarded secret simply doesn't matter to us, we aren't trying to build those and IFF is a magical system in DCS anyways. Things like encrypted radios, datalinks, ECM and all those other fancy parts are the same way. They simply are not relevant in the context of a flight sim. I have no doubt we could have a fairly accurate AH-64E and Ka-52 in DCS if someone is willing to do the work and pay the licensing fees to get permission from Boeing and Kamov respectively.

 

That said, I prefer real world scenarios over fictional ones and preferably two sided as well (as opposed to blasting ISIS infantry with Mi-28's). So my top choices are Mi-24D/V/P, AH-64A and AH-1G/J/W (all with TOW capability). I certainly wouldn't skip a modern attack chopper, I'd just prefer the more historically significant models first.

[Oubaas]

I wouldn't mind if they turned the KA-27 that's already in there into a module. The flying shoe-box would be fun for shipboard operations. It would work quite nicely from the flight deck of the cruiser Moskva for example.

 

:thumbup:

[Timka01]

Can't believe the OH-58 Kiowa is not on the list :(

[DUSTY]

Can't believe the H-60 and all it's awesome variants aren't mentioned in the list.

 

UH-60L/M

MH-60K/L/S/R

HH-60G/H

[Martillo1]

AH-64 and Mi-28.

[Grigs]

Weaponized Bell-222 of course! :)

 

[Bearfoot]

Can't believe the H-60 and all it's awesome variants aren't mentioned in the list.

 

UH-60L/M

MH-60K/L/S/R

HH-60G/H

 

Yeah. There is a discussion on the selection of types for the list which was based on my (not necessarily correct) ideas of what would be do-able from an information/data perspective. I would love any Black Hawk variant as well, and this would probably be in the top 4 if allowed (AH-1, AH-64 and the Chinook).

 

On the other hand, I think that the either the AH-1 or the AH-64 offers not only a vastly different flying experience from any of the existing helicopters, but also a vastly different role and purpose that is not only crucially missing from the Western line-up but would also nicely provide a counterpart the KA-50.

 

And while the mission profiles would overlap with the Huey, the flying experience of the Chinook would be very different, whereas I imagine the Black Hawk would be closer to the Huey at least?

 

So, I would still like to see a AH-1, AH-64, or a Chinook before a Black Hawk. But still, a PFM +ASM Black Hawk would be a day -1 insta-buy for me!

[ET22RULZ]

All the options are very interesting, but only one of them would guarantee an instabuy for me... :thumbup:

[Spathiphyllum]

I would love the UH60 or the new S70 Battle Hawk. Or the Airbus Caracal.

[john9001]

CH-47 Chinook because the blue side doesn't have a heavy lift helicopter.

[D4n]

What do players prefer about AH-1 than Mi-24? Just because american?

[Kev2go]

What do players prefer about AH-1 than Mi-24? Just because american?

 

Mi24 is unique in its own way, Hybrid of a Gunship and transport.

 

But the AH1 is a dedicated attack helo. The Hind coming to DCS is a vintage cold war version.

 

Whilst there are many AH1 variations, the Ah1F cobra modifacation appeared late in the cold war. Unlike Mi24 it has a FLIR system ( and if post cold war version) also has GPS navigation module integrated seeing as it served until 2001, making it better suited attack helo especially against Anti tank.

 

 

Ah1W Super Cobra, would be even better, to have given as it is also late cold war, but has soldiered well into present day 21st century conflicts ( GWOT) Afghanistan, Iraq, and even over Syria, arguably being the most relevant of the Cobra variants for DCS environments.

 

In addition to the above reason would also personally prefer Ah1W over Ah1F because Hellfires, AGM122 Sidearm, better CM suite, and a full on EGI nav system.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Kev2go

[D4n]

Hind could make it interesting for DCS multiplayer if/because it could drop for example Igla/Stinger units on multiplayer servers (with script).