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Cool article. So basically it's a Lima model with a Mike cockpit. Kinda weird, but whatever. At the end of the day, it still has the same power and lift capability as it did going in to the mod.

Kinda defeats the purpose of making the hawk better.

I guess it's the Army's version of putting lipstick on a pig! (And no, the Blackhawk is not a pig!)

 

Tim

 

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The idea of the "V" model is to allow the pilots to be able to transfer between units as it said in the article.  Also on the functional side it is a necessity for the C2 birds that didn't get the air worthiness release on the "M" model.  So it goes back to having pilots, particularly those straight out of flight school, trained on a "M" and going to a "L" unit so it wont be an issue once they go "V".  We shall see once its all said and done.

Dan

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  • 3 weeks later...

Saw these over on FB.  Not sure what the rules are for re-posting social media stuff.  If it's an issue, I'll take em down.   Anyhoo...  thought these were pretty cool.   Don't see too many pics of Nightstalker Hawks doing AAR.

 

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  • 2 years later...

Too lazy to start a new thread, just saw that the Army will be adding some new hardware bits to their Blackhawks.   

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29240/army-black-hawks-are-finally-getting-laser-countermeasures-to-throw-off-infrared-missiles

 

Note the pic in the article above only has a single turret mounted (where the old ALQ-144 used to go), supposedly the production fit will have a second turret somewhere underneath.    More stuff for the aftermarket folks to provide I suppose.  On a related note, does the new KH Blackhawk come with all the latest ASE gear (missile approach sensors, laser detectors, extra chaff/flare dispensers)?

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Yup, the UES is used to replace the very expensive and fragile ALQ-144. The mod along with special paint added to the blades for the increased heat allows the exhaust heat signature to be dispersed, and sort of acts the same way the ALQ would have. This along with CMWS is a more effective means of protecting from IR threats. 

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Yup, the UES is used to replace the very expensive and fragile ALQ-144. The mod along with special paint added to the blades for the increased heat allows the exhaust heat signature to be dispersed, and sort of acts the same way the ALQ would have. This along with CMWS is a more effective means of protecting from IR threats. 

My understanding was that the ALQ-144 went away a long time ago cause it wasn’t effective against newer threats.  The UES just recently became the standard exhaust suppressor, replacing the HIRSS on combat deployed Hawks       Wasn’t aware of new paint on the blades.  From a modeling perspective, is it any different from the original color?  

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The USAF still uses the Q on their deployed H-60s as well.

Strange that the regular army would have decided this equipment no longer was worth using and removed from the fleet years ago....

 

 

Edited by 11bee
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There are reasons that the Air Force trains for/against where the Q still has use. Just because it’s installed doesn’t mean it’s always turned on. Also there are less than 20 deployed HH-60s at any time, far less than even a single USA company.

Edited by Clinstone
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My understanding was that the ALQ-144 went away a long time ago cause it wasn’t effective against newer threats.  The UES just recently became the standard exhaust suppressor, replacing the HIRSS on combat deployed Hawks       Wasn’t aware of new paint on the blades.  From a modeling perspective, is it any different from the original color?  

 

This is at least what I was told while in the Army working on Apaches that had the ASPI mod, this may not be accurate now that I think of it. In any case CMMWS is better at reducing certain threats.  The different paint is to keep the blades from getting damaged by heat. It was still flat black paint. 

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Army Dust-Off Blackhawks flying in Syria have some interesting new countermeasures:

 

https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1572659591704-hh-60m-top-2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&ixlib=js-1.4.1&s=f726c071ea34073bd83ec8bafd72625f

 

These are also present on Apaches, no idea if standard UH-60's are also flying with these. 

 

Picture courtesy of and the full story is posted, here:

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30799/army-medevac-black-hawks-in-syria-are-flying-with-unique-laser-countermeasures-installation

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