Airsoft Action 05 - Jan 2012

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

Airsoft Action 05 - Jan 2012 | Page 60