Clinstone

Stand corrected.

That is not an external tank. It’s a mission pod.

The Alaska-based USAF and Army H-60s have them used for decades.

Should be the AAQ-45 DAIRCM that is currently equipped on Air Force HH-60Gs. https://theaviationist.com/2020/03/21/u-s-air-force-deploying-new-distributed-aperture-infrared-countermeasure-on-hh-60g-pave-hawk-helicopters/ Integration was mentioned in FY22 budget documents.

It’s actually barely big enough for payload and passenger capacity. Boeing is certifying a MGTOW that’s 240kg higher than the base AW139 to meet the KPP.

The fixed price contract with Boeing was nearly $2 billion cheaper than Lockheed Martin for the UH-60U. That’s the primary reason it was awarded. The 60Gs are tired and breaking with a poor MC rate. If they still had life left, they wouldn’t be replacing them with the W. There is plenty of logistics on the civil side for the AW139, especially given that all of the maintenance is done by contract personnel (save for Maxwell but that was a political decision for AFRC). Does the 139 have problems? Yes, however most of that is due to Boeing and not the airframe. The HH-60W has a bunch of

I believe the sensors you’re referencing are AAR-47s, not APR-47s. The AAR-47s are missile warning sensors, not RWR. The RWR sensors are the black dots on the nose and look like APR-39s.

I believe it was part of the Limited Night Rescue System (LNRS) that was equipped on a limited number of HH-53s in the early 70s.

That should work. No optics or anything on the weapon since gunners walk the rounds onto the target rather than "aiming" per se. The only accessory would be a PEQ-2 or PEQ-15 on the side of the forward rail assembly.

They are telemetry antennas since it’s a test aircraft.

He's talking about a CSAR rescue mission commander (RMC) role. Think a Sandy but for the Navy and not as specialized.

Then that must have changed. All of the ones they use now are stenciled on.

The Eglin birds are a different red than the Edwards aircraft. The Eglin aircraft used the same scheme as the Indian Springs aircraft did in the 1980s with insignia red as the color. The Edwards color isn't international orange but it's not insignia red either unless it's really faded. I don't think that the AF would have slightly different shades for the same thing but weirder things have happened. Edit: I think that the Edwards scheme is International Orange. This 416 FLTS F-16 is International Orange based on all of the decal sheets for it. And it makes sense they’d

Ref https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a248695.pdf This video has some forward interior and ramp shots

The pintle post has a detent that would "lock" it into place into the windstream. The weapon would then just hang.