Armed helicopters for

[Clunk]

Now that it looks as though the desperately needed medium lift choppers will be bought, (and I noticed a couple of postings about the possible use of Griffons in Aghan),  I had a couple of questions to throw out. 

First of all, an armed helicopter capability is one the troops in Afghan would appreciate, since they would, I would think, be very useful in convoy escort and maybe to sniff out and attack some of these rocket launch sites in the mountains.  Anyways - would'nt it be a great idea to piggy-back on the American order for Bell 407's (AKA ARH) the airframes for which are built in Bell's Quebec facility?  I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, medium lift is definately a more pressing requirement right now.

Also - can anyone comment on the possibility of using Griffons in an armed role?  I know there were tests done some time ago with Hellfire missles and 20mm cannon armament (I've seen the pics, though apparently the Hellfire system was not wired up, aerodynamic testing only, don't know if the 20mm was hooked up) I know the 146 is hardly an ideal attack platform, but given the lack of anything else, is the idea worthless?

Dave

 

[GAP]

See these threads...search function is your friend

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/45211.0.html

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/44917.0.html

 

[Clunk]

Thanks GAP, some very interesting reading.  During the election campaign of 2004 I took the future PM up in our company chopper (TV chopper) for our morning show - he seemed really intersted when I told him the Danes used an armed version of the aircraft - well let's hope we get something heavier than an A-Star!