Z-9W
| This page is about the Chinese attack helicopter Z-9W. For the other version, see Z-9WA. |
Contents
Description
The Z-9W (Known to the Chinese community as 海豚 Haitun; Dauphin)is a rank VI Chinese attack helicopter with a battle rating of 9.3 (AB/SB) and 10.3 (RB). It was introduced in Update "Drone Age".
One of the ground-based attacker helicopter variant of the AS365 Dauphin which HAIG got license from; it was also one of the earliest PLAGF Aviation Corp's dedicated attack helicopter, with a sufficient optical camera and better anti-tank weapons, autocannons, as well as the infamous TY-90 AAMs, Z-9W can sometimes serve as a makeshift "flying SPAAG" while giving ground vehicles a bad time with its HJ-8 series ATGMs.
General info
Flight performance
Z-9 itself was a licensed variant of the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, the overall appearance of Z-9W is mostly identical to AS365 while players will notice a ball camera below the nose and this is indeed the major difference; the W in this case means 武装 (Wuzhaung; armed) where the camera serves as the tracking device for ATGMs and scouting operations. The main usage of Z-9 is transporter while its airframe does support armed operations to some extent, it is noticeably larger than its predecessors while the overall mobility is sufficiently enough to sneak through terrains and strike enemies from the back and scouting for the team; sometimes dodging aerial assaults from enemies and fire back any offensive weapons onboard.
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 1,000 m) |
Max altitude (metres) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | ||
| Stock | ___ | ___ | 4200 |
| Upgraded | ___ | ___ | |
Survivability and armour
A very bad news for Z-9W is that, due to its nature of a transport helicopter, there are nothing between the pilots other than the windshield or airframe skins; like its tech-tree predecessors, any projectiles that penetrate the airframe is more than enough to finish of the crew with ease. Although it has a self-sealing tank, Z-9W is still very likely be burnt before it has chance to fly back to airbase or it extinguish itself.
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
| Ballistic Computer | ||
|---|---|---|
| CCIP (Guns) | CCIP (Rockets) | CCIP (Bombs) |
 |
|
|
Suspended armament
The Z-9W can be outfitted with the following ordnance presets:
- 36 x Type 57-1 rockets
- 2 x 12.7 mm QJK99-12.7-1 machine guns (1,000 rpg = 2,000 total)
- 2 x HJ-8A missiles
- 14 x Type 90-1 rockets
- 4 x HJ-8A missiles
- 4 x HJ-8C missiles
- 4 x TY-90 missiles
- 2 x 23 mm Type 23-1 cannons (240 rpg = 480 total)
Custom loadout options
| 1 | 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 mm Type 23-1 cannons (240 rpg) | 1 | 1 | |
| 12.7 mm QJK99-12.7-1 machine guns (1,000 rpg) | 1 | 1 | |
| Type 57-1 rockets | 18 | 18 | |
| Type 90-1 rockets | 7 | 7 | |
| HJ-8A missiles | 2 | 2 | |
| HJ-8C missiles | 2 | 2 | |
| TY-90 missiles | 2 | 2 |
Usage in battles
Players of Chinese helicopters will soon find out that Z-9W still lacks any form of fixed weapons (only Z-10 has a belly Type 23L turret), although both 12.7 mm or 23 mm gun pods can be armed alongside with other weaponries, this also means half the firepower than most of its counterparts in other countries. Some deemed the upgrade with 23 mm gun pod is better than none since it has way more firepower than 12.7 mm gun pod; new HJ-8C ATGMs as well as TY-90 AAMs are also good friends of Z-9W as they give a longer ground engage range to HJ-8A (albeit at a bare 500 m more) and TY-90 is infamous for its extreme maneuverability against any aircrafts especially at its tier, where even jets with flares are very likely still a prey of TY-90. So depending on player's needs, custom loadouts with HJ-8s and TY-90s is good for taking down a few enemies before rearming thanks to their sufficient damages to their specified targets; while options with cannons and either ATGMs or AAMs is a good choice between gunning down fixed targets in helicopter EC while taking down SPAAGs/aircrafts from a safer distance. Thanks to ballistic computers, rockets are now viable options as well as this will further enhance the overall accuracy of them which the earlier helicopters lacked.
Although its payload is not as much as any dedicated attack helicopters and it doesn't have any form of protection other than its airframe and windshield, players could still utilize its mobility to move around and seek for a chance to deliver a blow to enemies, be sure to stay as low as possible and take advantages of the terrains as radars of the tier not as good either; alternatively the 6 km all-aspect acquisition range of TY-90 can also turn Z-9W into a "flying SPAAG" and save the team from any aerial strikes, sneaking behind enemy lines and strike their aircrafts before they do any damage is also viable as well.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Relatively fast top speed
- Decent manoeuvrability
- TY-90 AAMs are very effective against air targets
- Access to tandem HJ-8C missiles
Cons:
- Lacks of fixed self-defense measures such as fixed guns and flares
- No thermal optics unlike its predecessor Z-11WA
- Very little armour
History
The overall detail for the purchase of the license for AS365 is yet to be determined, HAIG documented that Mainland China done a contract with France on 15 October, 1980; the CKD version of Z-9 was then passed for commission in 1983 and first shown during the 1987 Paris Airshow along with other aircrafts of HAIG, later versions of Z-9 passed for certifications in 1989[1], but it was only 1993 when HAIG finally built the fully domestic version of Z-9B. Since then, Z-9 has been one of the major forces of the PLA helicopter corps with many different variants for both PLAGF and PLAN, as well as PAP (People's Armed Police; 武警); PLAGF first modified some Z-9s into Z-9G standards with the required guidance equipment for ATGM as well as other armaments on the sides, while the later Z-9W installed upgraded electronics and retained the same firepower as its predecessor.
Z-9W is also the base for later Z-9WA with better avionics and payload thanks to revised pylon that were as-built into the airframe instead of bolted onto the airframe.
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.
| Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (哈尔滨飞机工业(集团)有限责任公司 ) | |
|---|---|
| Jet Bombers | H-5* |
| Helicopters | |
| Z-9 | Z-9W · Z-9WA |
| Z-19 | Z-19 · Z-19E |
| *Unlicensed and modified copy of the IL-28. | |
| 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 |
