Airsoft Action 05 - Jan 2012 | Page 60
THE
GAZELLE
HELICOPTER
The Gazelle has always made a big impression from front line action to
movie roles. Ratty’s back to tell us why we want one of these iconic aircraft –
and just how expensive our new Christmas pressies are going to be...
I
n recent years the Ministry of
Defence has had to alter how it
procured kit. From boots to heavy
hardware, new products had to go
through months (sometimes years)
of demanding tests before being ordered
centrally by the MoD. Due to operational
demands in recent years this procurement
process has had to change drastically, and
been vastly speeded up.
On top of that, given the pace that
technology is advancing, kit that has been in
service for only a short time has found itself
obsolete almost as quickly as it came into
service. So some items of military hardware
that have seen long and distinguished service
have also seen their military life come to an
abrupt end.
One of these well-known and much loved
military machines is the Gazelle helicopter.
Back in the mid-60s the French Army
issued a requirement for a new lightweight
utility helicopter. Sud Aviation (which later
© Graeme Main
060
January 2012
became Aerospatiale) came up with an initial
design for a five-seat helicopter, powered
by a single turbine engine similar in general
layout to its already existing Alouette series.
This design featured several new and
important innovations, most importantly
the fenestron, aka the fantail, which gave
considerable noise reduction. The rotor
blades were also made of composite
materials, a feature now widely used in
modern helicopters.
This design quickly attracted British
interest, which led to a development and
production share agreement with British
company Westland Helicopters. The deal,
signed in February 1967 allowed Westland to
,
build under licence, in Britain, a total of 292
Gazelles and 48 Aerospatiale Pumas that had
also been ordered by British armed forces.
In return Aerospatiale was given a work
share in the manufacturing programme for
40 Westland Lynx Naval helicopters for the
French Navy.
The prototype of this Anglo-French
collaboration first flew on 7 April 1967
.
Production started within a couple of years
and, apart from military uses, it also proved a
big hit on the commercial civilian market. The
Gazelle has also been produced, again under
licence, by SOKO in Yugoslavia and ABHCO in
Egypt. Although the design has been around
for many years now it remains one of the
fastest helicopters ever built with a maximum
speed of 198mph.
In 1983, two Gazelles were modified
to star as a high-tech attack/surveillance
helicopter for the action-thriller film Blue
Thunder as well as in the TV spinoff series
(although that was very short-lived!). More
recently, Richard Hammond flew a Gazelle in
an episode of Top Gear.
The French Aerospatiale
Gazelle and variants
In service with the French Army Light
Aviation (ALAT), the basic French army
version is the SA 341F Powered by an
.
Astazou IIIC engine and armed with a 20mm
cannon, it operates mostly in a light support
role, though the Gazelle’s primary role
within ALAT is as anti-tank gunships. The
latest variant, the SA 342M, is armed with
Euromissile HOT missiles. These latest antitank and recon versions also carry the Viviane
thermal imagery system and are named,
funnily enough, the Gazelle Viviane. The
French also operate some anti-air variants
too: the gazelle Celtic is based on the SA
341F and the more modern version, armed
with the Mistral air-to-air missile system,
again uses the SA 342M variant.
The French have used the Gazelle in
many theatres of operations over the
years, especially during interventions in
Africa and peacekeeping operations. It saw
deployment in Chad during the 1980s, the