SA.341F Gazelle

SA.341F Gazelle

SA.341F Gazelle

France

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.0	9.0	9.7

Class:

Utility helicopter

Research:370 000

Purchase:990 000

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This page is about the French utility helicopter SA.341F Gazelle. For other version, see SA.342M Gazelle.

Description

The SA.341F Gazelle is a rank VI French utility helicopter with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB) and 9.7 (SB). This helicopter was introduced in Update 1.87 "Locked On".

Initially designed by Sud Aviation in 1966, the Gazelle helicopter project (SA 340, SA 341 and SA 342) was continued by Aérospatiale as a French five-seat transport, scout and light attack helicopter manufactured in both France and the United Kingdom. Manufacturing licenses were granted allowing a Yugoslavian company SOKO and the Arab British Helicopter Company in Egypt to also produce these aircraft.

The Turbomeca Artouste Astazou IIB turbine engine powers the Gazelle. Initial testing of this helicopter utilised a standard tail-rotor taken from the Alouette, however, design changes switched to a Fenestron-style tail, the first helicopter to do so. The Fenestron tail or “fantail” differs from a conventional tail rotor as it contains eight to eighteen blades housed within the tail unit of the helicopter. Advantages of the Fenestron include substantial noise reduction, protection of tail rotor damage from contact with other objects and protection of ground personnel working around the tail section. With the aid of the Fenestron tail, the Gazelle was the world’s fastest helicopter in its class during its early years.

In the service of the French, the Gazelle SA.341F was utilised as a light support helicopter equipped with a 20 mm GLAT M.261 cannon and various rockets, anti-tank missiles and air-to-air missiles. Over the years, the Gazelle was removed from anti-tank duty and reconfigured for operations as an Air Observation Post directing artillery fire, airborne forward air controller directing ground-attack troops, troop casualty evacuations and communication relay operations.

General info

Flight Performance

Describe how the helicopter behaves in the air. Maximum speed, manoeuvrability, speed and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Survivability and armour

Examine the survivability of the helicopter. Note how vulnerable the structure is and how secure the pilot is, how many engines the vehicle has. Describe the armour, if there is any, also mention the vulnerability of other critical aircraft systems.

Armaments

Offensive armament

Describe the offensive armament of the helicopter, if any. Describe how effective the cannons and machine guns are in battle, also what ammunition belts or drums are better to use. If there is no offensive weaponry, delete this subsection.

Suspended armament

Describe the helicopter's suspended armament: additional cannons under the winglets, any type of bombs, and rockets. Since any helicopter is essentially only a platform for suspended weaponry, this section is extremely important and deserves your special attention. If there is no suspended weaponry remove this subsection.

Usage in battles

This helicopter has three main playstyles, centered around the selected loadout.

Anti-Tank: Using AGMs, get within 4km of a target, while remaining hidden by trees or buildings, and guide your missile to the target. Focus on tanks without Reactive armor, as they may render your missiles ineffective, and waste your time. After expending your missiles, it is best to return to the helipad and resupply.

Rocketeer: Using unguided rockets, fly low over the battlefield and assault a single tank with a precise salvo, and then retreat behind cover.

Air Defense: Using AAMs, sneak behind enemy lines, and land in an obscured area, or/ behind cover, and wait for aircraft or helicopters to get near your allies. Then surprise attack them with your missiles and cannon fire, this will make short work of any helicopter, and most slow-flying aircraft.

Overall you want to avoid direct line-of-sight to your enemies, as they likely can spot you faster than you can spot them, and engage you at longer range. Surface-to-air missiles are a serious threat, as they can take you by surprise, and you have no Radar Detector to warn you of their presence. The same applies to radar-guided anti-aircraft guns.

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Compressor		Flak Jacket	Offensive 20 mm
II			Helicopter Frame		HOT
III	Engine	Replacing Helicopter Blades		New 20 mm Cannons	HOT-2
IV			Cover		ATAM

Pros and cons

Summarize and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - they have a substitution in the form of softer "inadequate", "effective".

Pros:

• One of the smallest helicopters, easier to hide, and harder to hit at high speed.
• 20mm Autocannon for engaging aircraft and lightly-armored vehicles.
• Respectable ammo count for the cannon.
• Mistral air-to-air missiles.
• Flares and thermal optics.
• HOT 1 and HOT 2 AGMs.

Cons:

• Surprisingly hard to maneuver at speed, and has a tendency to over-roll.
• No armor, easy to damage critical components and eliminate crew.
• Starts off with one of the weakest stock loadouts for helicopters.
• Fixed-forward cannon is hard to get on target.
• Very low unguided rocket count.
• Can only equip one type of missile at a time; AGM or AAM.
• Carries only two of each missile.

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 big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

Images

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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 aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• SA.341F & SA.342M Gazelle: Light Hunter