AH-60 (Israel)
.jpg)
Contents
Description
The AH-60 Battle Hawk is a rank VII Israeli attack helicopter with a battle rating of 10.7 (AB/SB) and 12.0 (RB). It was introduced in Update "Alpha Strike". It marks a new helicopter chassis available to the Israeli tech tree in form of the iconic Sikorsky "Black Hawk". With this new platform, new options open up for anyone choosing to tread down this part of the tech tree. Access to up to 16 of the Spike F&F ATGM in conjunction with the AGM-114K Hellfire 2 in mixed loadouts is the main appeal of this helicopter. Additionally it features a higher rate-of-fire underslung GIAT M621 cannon than its 11.3 brethren. The AH-60 "Yanshuf" (Hebrew: Owl) marks a viable alternative to it's AH-64 competitors and a step-up in every regard to the MD-500 "Lahatut" (Hebrew: Sleight of Hand) preceding it in the tech tree.
Historically the IAF has a long history with the UH-60 "Black Hawk". Dating back to tests in the 1980s the Israeli Air Force has been very interested in an alternative to their Bell-212 "Anafa" (Hebrew: Heron). With about 50 in service as utility aircraft for logistics duties it has been a landmark in the IAF helicopter fleet. In recent years the demand for more options to meet surface threats has been ushered and thus the decision was made to buy armed versions of the platform. The model in-game represents the upgraded UH-60L co-manufactured by Elbit Systems for the Colombian army with the designation AH-60L Arpía IV.
Note: You will need to research both sides of the tech tree in order to be able to research this vehicle.
General info
Flight performance
In its fully spaded configuration the AH-60 features a marginally worse climb rate than the AH-64 Saraph of ~10m/s in a straight climb. It features a sustained top speed of ~250 m/s (0 m/s climb) in realistic settings. The sustained yaw is quite poor, but expected for a platform of this size. Pitch and roll rate are quite decent and make this helicopter feel decently mobile in conjunction with its decent climb and speed.
| Characteristics | Max speed (km/h at _,___ m) |
Max altitude (metres) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | ||
| Stock | ___ | ___ | 5700 |
| Upgraded | ___ | ___ | |
Survivability and armour
The AH-60 does not feature any cockpit armour or armoured glass. The fuel tanks are quite large and placed in the rear of the vehicle. This tends to make them prone to getting hit and causing fuel fires in front and rear aspect shots. The vehicle itself features lots of empty space, which can be a blessing and a curse as its large signature makes it quite visible.
Your main survivability stems from your highly advanced defence systems such as the fully digital RWR covering all radar bands. The AH-60 comes equipped with 120 regular calibre countermeasures. Additionally it gets access to a (researchable) MAW - missile approach warning - and a laser warning receiver.
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
| Ballistic Computer | ||
|---|---|---|
| CCIP (Guns) | CCIP (Rockets) | CCIP (Bombs) |
 |
|
|
Offensive armament
The AH-60 (Israel) is armed with:
- A choice between two presets:
- 1 x 20 mm GIAT M.621 cannon (430 rpg) + 120 x countermeasures
- 1 x 20 mm GIAT M.621 cannon + 120 x countermeasures + IRCM
Suspended armament
Describe the helicopter's suspended armament: additional cannons under the winglets, any bombs, and rockets. Since any helicopter is essentially only a platform for suspended weaponry, this section is significant and deserves your special attention. If there is no suspended weaponry remove this subsection.
| Default weapon presets | |
|---|---|
| |
Usage in battles
The AH-60 puts an emphasis on ground attack. Whilst this holds true for most helicopters, its ways of defending against aircraft are fairly limited. Equipping a double pylon of ATAS will require trading it out for one of the quad pylons of air-to-ground weaponry. The 20mm GIAT M621 can be competent at defending against aircraft due to its higher rate of fire and velocity than the AH-64s M230.
Running a mixed loadout of Spike LR and AGM-114K Hellfire 2 is recommended, as depending on the vehicle, the Spikes make for a poor experience. They tend to not overpressure, but make for an excellent distraction to flood the radar of an SPAA with. Against tanks, they tend to hit critical modules, but usually fail to destroy the vehicle in a single launch. As such the Hellfire as a secondary armament can prove a lethal option on the "wounded" prey, which when it hits it also tends to destroy the target.
The AH-60 serves best, when emphasizing the usual helicopter playstyle of playing around defensive terrain, popping up to either scout or firing off ordnance. The decent climb rate of the platform is in support of that. This playstyle can be made more lethal by prioritising F&F weaponry to pop-up a few seconds later to get the kill with AGM-114 or staying hidden and waiting for hit confirmation. Spike LR can also be a strong anti-helicopter platform in its own right, as the quite slow, lofting missile tends to set off RWR at a much later, difficult to react, point in time.
For first-spawn missile runs, the platform serves as an option, but not a competitor to the AH-64 variants found on the other side of the helicopter tree. While it is able to load the same amount of air-to-ground ordnance, its poor frontal protection as well as its smaller calibre cannon make it an inferior choice. Additionally, its mobility is not quite as good as the other platform.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Up to 16x Spike ER ATGMs
- Mixed loadouts between Spike and Hellfires
- Excellent optics with modern third generation thermals
- M621 bottom-mounted cannon, unusual for utility helicopter chassis
Cons:
- Both Spikes and Hellfires can be inconsistent at tracking/damaging targets
- No wingtip mounts for ATAS
- Massive silhouette
- No armour protecting the crew
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the helicopter in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
- MH-60L DAP US helicopter tree analogue
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Utility | H-34 |
| Attack | MH-60L DAP |
| Export | ▄H-34 · AH-60 |
| Israel helicopters | |
|---|---|
| Attack | |
| MD 500 | Lahatut |
| Battle Hawk | AH-60 |
| Cobra | Tzefa D/E · Tzefa A · Tzefa B |
| Apache | Saraph · Peten · AH-64A Peten |
