#helicopters

Last decades of the Cold War were a golden age for attack helicopters. Building upon everything learned from the previous generations of multirole vehicles, the US and the USSR military strived for even better performance and capabilities, and they had access to new technologies that could give them exactly that. It was the 1980s when engineers worked on the Soviet Ka-50 and Mi-28, the Italian Mangusta, the South-African Rooivalk and, of course, the French-German Eurocopter Tiger.

The story of the A129 Mangusta began during the late stages of the Cold War. The helicopter was developed at the request of the Italian Army, which saw the need to equip its air units with a dedicated attack helicopter equipped with anti-tank capabilities. The A129 was the first dedicated attack helicopter fully designed and built in Western Europe. Its project began in 1978, and its final design was ready only in 1982.

The world of helicopters isn't quite as diverse as that of tanks. But it certainly has its own starring cast. By no means, least among them is the legendary Mi-24, also knowns as the "Crocodile", and of course the "Hind" as it is known by its NATO classification. From its first flight in September 1969 and right up until production ceased in 1991, 3,500 units were manufactured which were also actively exported all over the world. In August 1978, the Czechoslovak Armed Forces obtained their first Mi-24.

Watch the video below for more about the Mi-24D in Czechoslovakian service!

In the middle of the 20th century, legendary designs like the Huey, the Cobra and the Mi-24 heralded the start of the new era, the era of helicopters: combat vehicles perfectly suited for the purposes of lightning-fast air support. New helicopter designs were being developed by superpower states as well as many other countries with advanced defence capabilities, like West Germany, France and, naturally, the United Kingdom… which is perfect, because today we’re going to speak specifically about British helicopters.

The weapons selector, introduced in Update “Raining Fire”, is a mechanism which allows the player to select which of an aircraft’s primary and secondary weapons should be used. Once set up, players can cycle through their primary and secondary weapons, and fire them using the same bound key. Note that this is a separate system, with separate controls, from the countermeasures selector.

The Ballistic Computer is a system found on some modern aircraft and helicopters used to aid the player in the delivery of unguided air-to-ground munitions. There are two key functions of the ballistic computer: Constantly Computed Impact Point (CCIP) and Constantly Computed Release Point (CCRP). CCIP continually calculates where munitions will land and gives the pilot an accurate impact point to aim with. CCRP allows the player to specify an impact point, the ballistic computer will then continually calculate at which point along the player’s flight path munitions will need to be released in order to hit the player’s designated impact point, and will only allow munitions to be released when that point is reached.