Posted on 05/21/2017 8:37:09 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Chinese-developed attack helicopter Z-19E is pictured during its maiden flight in Harbin, Heilongjiang province in China on May 18.(Reuters)
China unveiled an indigenously developed attack helicopter on Thursday as it eyes a lucrative export market and ramps up an ambitious modernisation programme.
The Z-19E, developed by the state-owned AVIC Harbin Aircraft Industry, took to the skies over the city of Harbin for its maiden flight, with images carried on state television.
Based on the Z-19’s design, the Z-19E, also called the “Black Whirlwind” can be used in quick-response, low-impact and frequent attack missions, the China National Radio reported.
“The helicopter is the latest narrow-body tandem-seat armed helicopter. It is also the country’s first export-oriented helicopter made especially for attack purposes,” state news agency Xinhua said.
Deputy chief designer Li Shengwei said the helicopter is equipped with safety features to improve the pilot’s survival rate.
“The Z-19E and Z-9 are similar in many respects,” Li said.
Chinese-developed attack helicopter Z-19E is pictured during its maiden flight. (REUTERS)
In terms of manoeuvrability and functions, the Z-19E meets international standards and its operating interface is in English, he said.
“The Z-19E has strong market potential as some of its components are compatible with other countries’ military systems,” Song Zhongping, a military expert who served in the PLA Rocket Force, told the state-run Global Times.
Song also noted that the helicopter would fare well in the global market.
It is aimed at countries which require light military helicopters with medium-level attack power, he said.
China has rolled out a series of increasingly advanced equipment in recent years, including stealth fighter jets and the first domestically developed aircraft carrier.
China has also increasingly been focused at getting more defence orders on the world market, trying to shed a reputation for poor reliability or cloning weapons.
Blueprints either stolen from the USA or given to them by the Clintons.
Flies and shoots sideways.
“Deputy chief designer Li Shengwei said the helicopter is equipped with safety features to improve the pilot’s survival rate.”
From what to what? Two in a hundred from one? I can see the line forming to fly this thing if they have to mention that they improved the pilots chances of living a little. Oh yeah, let me get in one of those in combat.
rwood
Yup. "the Z-19E meets international standards and its operating interface is in English"
American English, I bet...
It has a Eurocopter vibe about it.
The Clintons do not give anything away fro free. If the plans came from the Clintons, the Chinese paid for them.
Give it a rest. Whining for no reason makes you look weak
I watched the original news report while in China, and was not particularly impressed, even with the typical gushing of the reporter. The flight didn’t display anything remarkable whatsoever.
Meh.
Exactly. Derived from the Harbin Z-9, which was a licence-build of the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin. (But some people might believe that Nixon gave the plans to the French)
I have a pipe wrench made in china.. Husky brand maybe. Had to fix it. The spring opening the jaws didn’t line up. Pipe wrench baby. high tech.
The front half looks American (Apache tandem cockpit, Cobra engine housing) and back half looks European (EC-135 Eurocopter tail rotor).
It’s a Franken-copter! :-D
It looks too small to be an attack helicopter. Probably ripped-off the design from Airbus.
Looks more like a toy with the glossy black paint job and stickers plastered all over it.
The tandem cockpit is not exclusive to the AH-64 family - The Agusta A129, Eurocopter Tiger, and Kawasaki OH-1 come to mind.
A very long time ago Japan chronically stole Naval technology from the British and Americans.
finally they were so tired of it they designed a “suuuper secret” upcoming hypothetical which would absolutely turn over the minute that it got into the water; the center of gravity was absolutely too high.
And that’s exactly what happened of course:
the blueprints had been formulated specifically in order to be stolen by the Japanese.
A long time ago. Japan and Britain were cooperating on naval technology and were both well in advance of the johnny come lately Americans.
After WWI Japan was comfortably building ships as good (if not better) that the rest of the world.
But because of naval treaties could'nt build as many as she wanted to.
That lead them to push stability margins beyond the limits.
That lead to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_torpedo_boat_Tomozuru
Not being idiots the Japanese reevalated their design margins.
Meanwhile the absurd myth rose in America that they had pulled of this coup against some Japanese stealing American designs, resulting in a Japanese warship turning turtle on launching.
Why anybody ever believed it remains a mystery to this day.
Europe, actually. It was developed with assistance from Eurocopter, is built using parts from their license-built version of the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin and may contain tech from the Eurocopter Tiger attack heli.
Basically, this thing developed like the Huey Cobra did - they took a transport chopper and made an attack heli out of it. And as the Cobra demonstrated, it’s not a bad thing.
The US Coast Guard uses US-built versions of the same parent AS365 as the HH-65. Armed variants are designated MH-65. It’s not a US design at all, even though they are assembled in Texas.
No, they actually paid Eurocopter (now Airbus) for the base helicopter design. As posted above, it’s a gunship conversion of a license-built copy of the AS365.
One open question is whether it has the safe-crew-ejection features from the not-unrelated Eurocopter Tiger, which is a proven tech that the US doesn’t have on any helicopter currently in service.
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