Their primary mission in the theater was mine hunting duties, for which they used IR sensors in their search. They were only carried aboard lighter surface combatants during Operation Desert Storm, and weren’t present among the air wings of any of the aircraft carriers during the conflict. Af...
The requirements for an attack helicopter included: survival in a high-threat regime, commonality with the existing medium transport helicopter fleet (Oryx/Puma), quick response to the mission task, day and night operability, low pilot workload, a very accurate navigation suite, simple “in-the-...