SA.342L Gazelle
| This page is about the Chinese utility helicopter SA.342L Gazelle. For other versions, see Gazelle (Family). |
Contents
Description
The SA.342L Gazelle(commonly known as 小羚羊 by the name Gazelle) is a rank V Chinese utility helicopter with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Drone Age".
One of the earliest European purchase of Mainland China during the 1980s and their earliest "attack" helicopter that installed ATGMs, the name "gazelle" might not sound threatening, but it can still fight back with its limited payload including ATGMs and pair of rocket pods, as well as machine gun pods.
General info
Flight performance
SA.342L is one of the family of the Gazelle family of light helicopters from France with revised systems for carrying armaments, one of its distinctive feature over other helicopters of its era is the fenestron (covered tail rotor) tail rotor. Since its nature of a light helicopter, players will find Gazelle agile while keeping sufficient top speed for scouting missions and assault mission. But do remember that its nature of a light helicopter- the only payload options are only 57 mm or 70 mm rocket pods, 12.7 mm gun pods and 2 pairs of HJ-8A ATGMs with low speed and relatively low range, so make use of its mobility to sneak into battlefield and delivery some blows onto enemy targets.
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 0 m - at sea level) |
Max altitude (metres) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | ||
| Stock | ___ | ___ | 5000 |
| Upgraded | ___ | ___ | |
Survivability and armour
Like many utility helicopters, Gazelle does not have any kind of extra protection other than its airframe and windshields, any projectile that flies onto Gazelle will very likely damage parts of the helicopter and even being pilot-sniped with relative ease; the only better news is that Gazelle has self-sealing tanks to at least giving it the chance to save itself from being a fireball in the skies.
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Suspended armament
The payload options of SA.342L are as follow:
- 34x Type 57-1 rockets
- 14x FS70 rockets
- 2x QJK99-1 12.7 mm gun pod
- 4x HJ-8A ATGM
Custom loadout options
| 1 | 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.7 mm QJK99-12.7-1 machine guns (1,000 rpg) | 1 | 1 | |
| FS70 rockets | 7 | 7 | |
| Type 57-1 rockets | 18 | 18 | |
| HJ-8A missiles | 2 | 2 |
Usage in battles
The Chinese Gazelle in this case is currently placed at 8.7, although it is lower than his French cousins, this also means its weaponry choice is rather limited compare to them as well. Due to the late introduction of ATGMs in PLAGF service and the small payload capability of Gazelle, it could only at most carry 4 HJ-8A ATGMs which are the earliest "2nd generation" ATGM of PLAGF with relatively worse performance; they are sufficient to knock-down tanks without composite armor or ERA packages, but do make sure choosing targets that do not aware of your existence since it takes around 13 seconds to hit targets at its maximum distance. Another complain on Gazelle is that it doesn't have any form of fixed weapon for self-defense and it could only carry gun pod with other weaponries in custom loadout at the cost of either side pylon and rotorcraft dogfights could be rare at the tier, so in most cases, the default options are already sufficient for your use. Do remember that Gazelle has no ballistic computer and it takes some practice to utilize both rockets at maximum efficiency as their trajectory is not as easy to be handled as FFAR or Mighty Mouse.
Since its armaments have quite short range compare to other helicopters of the tier, be sure to utilize the excellent mobility of Gazelle (literally) to enter the battlefield and leave in one piece- any vehicles with guns that can aim high enough to hit Gazelle are like predators of the Savanna, any hits could mean a quick and sometimes miserable end to Gazelle. Alternatively for a safer approach, take cover behind terrain or stay barely above tree level to conceal yourself from any "predators", only peek out and take out enemies that are in heat of battle and didn't expect your existence.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Small and agile
- Sufficient camera magnification for co-pilot
Cons:
- Lacks of any form of extra protection
- Very limited weapon options
- Lacks fixed weapons for last ditch self-defense/unprotected targets
History
SA.340/341/342 Gazelle has been a very successful helicopter from France and already been export to multiple customers; while the new PLAGF Aviation Corps (陆军航空兵) established in October of 1986 with only Harbin Z-5 and earlier SA.311 at their disposal, they have already proposed for new helicopters to meet their urge demand for helicopters. The deal for SA.341L was set in late-1980s for 8 helicopters at $800k USD per unit where they were first seen as a part of the scouting operations of the 1989 Crackdown; while they were later served as a converted attack helicopter of PLAGF during military exercises, especially during the heat of 2nd Taiwan Strait Crisis as the only "dedicated" attack helicopter for PLAGF with 4 missiles onboard.
As newer Z-9 and later helicopters with better payload and performance came into service, the Gazelles are very likely been withdrawn from frontline service and serve as trainer for new pilots of PLAGF Aviation Corps.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the helicopter;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Aérospatiale | |
|---|---|
| Utility | SA 313B Alouette II · SA 316B Alouette III · SA.341F Gazelle · SA.342M Gazelle |
| Export | ◄SA 313B Alouette II · HKP2 · SA.342L Gazelle |
| China helicopters | |
|---|---|
| Attack/Utility | Z-9W · Z-9WA · Z-10 · Z-11WA · Z-19 · Z-19E |
| ␗OH-58D (USA) | |
| Attack | ␗AH-1W (USA) |
| Utility | SA.342L Gazelle (France) |
| Pakistan | ▄Mi-35M |
