ROOIVALK

From the INTERNET DJ takes out details about a latest generation SOUTH AFRICA attack helicopter

The Rooivalk is a latest generation attack helicopter from Denel Aviation, South Africa. It has successfully completed the development, test and evaluation phase and has entered full scale production. The South African Air Force has ordered 16 Rooivalk AH-2's for two squadrons, the first of which was delivered in January 1999.

The cockpits are in stepped tandem configuration. The Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) is seated in the front cockpit and the pilot is seated in the cockpit above and behind the WSO. The cockpits,

which are fitted with crashworthy seats and are armour-protected, are equipped with hands on collective and stick (HOCAS) controls.

The Rooivalk has a crash-resistant structure and is designed for stealth with low radar, visual, infrared and acoustic signatures.

WEAPONS SYSTEMS

The Rooivalk carries a comprehensive range of weaponry selected for the mission requirement, ranging from anti-armour and anti-helicopter missions to ground suppression and ferry missions. The aircraft can engage multiple targets at short and long range, utilising the nose-mounted cannon and a range of underwing-mounted munitions.

Target detection, acquisition and tracking are carried out using the nose mounted stabilised sight, TDATS. The TDATS sight is equipped with a television sensor, Forward Looking Infrared sensor (FLIR), autotracker, laser rangefinder and laser designator.

A helmet mounted sight display (HMSD) provides the crew with a head-up display of information for nap-of-the-earth flight (NOE). The HMSD incorporates an integrated measurement system for directing an articulated weapon such as the cannon, or air-to-air missile seeker heads.

CANNON

The articulated cannon is the 20 millimetre F2 which is a dual feed gas operated cannon. The cannon fires high speed (1 100 m/s) ammunition at a firing rate of 740 rounds per minute. Two ammunition bins hold up to 700 rounds of ammunition in a ready-to-fire configuration. The slew rate of the cannon is 90 degrees per second. The cannon is chin mounted on the helicopter.

ANTI-TANK MISSILE

The Kentron Division of Denel are developing the Mokopa anti-tank guided weapon for the Rooivalk. Mokopa is developed in two configurations, the Mokopa SAL, (Semi-Active Laser) missile which has an articulated seeker head and the Mokopa MMW (MilliMetre Wave) missile, equipped with a tandem warhead. Rooivalk can also fire Hellfire or HOT 3 missiles.

AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES

Rooivalk can carry four air-to-air missiles such as the V3C Darter or the Mistral. The V3C Darter from Kentron uses an infrared seeker and a helmet mounted sight for target designation. The Matra BAe Dynamics Mistral, which has been selected by the South African Air Force, has an infrared seeker operating at multiple wavelengths within the 3 to 5 micron waveband. Range is up to 6 kilometres.

ROCKETS

Rooivalk is equipped to fire 70 mm Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) from the company Forges de Zeebrugge of Belgium with a range of warheads, selectable according to the type of targets being engaged.

ELECTRONIC WARFARE

The Rooivalk's electronic warfare suite is the fully integrated Helicopter Electronic Warfare Self-protection Suite, HEWSPS, incorporating radar warning, laser warning and countermeasures dispensing system. The system is flight line programmable and in-flight adaptable to match the threat library with the mission's area of operation

The radar warner features low effective radiated power (ERP)/Pulse Doppler radar detection beyond radar detection range, ultra broadband frequency coverage, high pulse density handling and internal instantaneous frequency measurement.

The laser warner provides broadband laser frequency coverage to detect and display rangefinding, designating and missile guidance laser threats.

The countermeasures dispensing system, which is operated in manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic mode is charged with chaff and flare cartridges. The chaff dispensing system is synchronised with an optional radar jammer.

NAVIGATION AND AUTOMATIC FLIGHT CONTROL

The Rooivalk is equipped with an advanced navigation suite including Doppler Radar Velocity Sensor, Global Positioning System, Heading Sensor Unit and an Air Data Unit. The navigation system provides data to the crew and to the Automatic Flight Control System.

The Automatic Flight Control System provides rate stabilisation, attitude hold, altitude hold, turn co-ordination, hover capture and hold, and automatic trimming function.

COMMUNICATIONS

The Rooivalk communications suite consists of two VHF/UHF transceivers with FM, AM and digital speech processing, one HF radio with frequency hopping and secure voice and data channels, associated control units and an IFF transponder.