Copter Arty

I think a cheaper though not necessarily better solution would be "man-portable" multiple rocket launchers firing small unguided rockets for oversaturating a target area. These would be far easier to transport by helicopter due to both the launcher and ammunition having to be small to be portable and could potentially be moved and set up for firing much quicker.

Obviously these would have limited if any effect on armor but could still be useful to kill off soft targets.

BKulan said:

I think a cheaper though not necessarily better solution would be "man-portable" multiple rocket launchers firing small unguided rockets for oversaturating a target area. These would be far easier to transport by helicopter due to both the launcher and ammunition having to be small to be portable and could potentially be moved and set up for firing much quicker.

Obviously these would have limited if any effect on armor but could still be useful to kill off soft targets.

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Then you'd have to consider if this idea is better than the current artillery we have now. Missiles are a lot more expensive than artillery shells, and if you're looking for something that's portable and has the ability to kill off soft targets, infantry mortars that we already have are a pretty good choice.

So in essence, it's not cost effective to make heavy artillery too portable, as Gollevainen said just factoring in the fuel costs alone would ruin the idea.

Inst said:

There's already Heli-mobile light-artillery. Some BAE... M777? That's an ultra-light artillery piece (4KG) that's both Heli-mobile and can hit targets 30 KM distant.

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Please note that M777 weigh near to 4 tons and not 4 kg (if the latter, maybe mine SAR 21 weigh as much as a artillery gun ) If it was ultra-light artillery pieces that you meant, then I think that is feasible. Singapore had also developed a artillery piece called the Pegasus that could be heli-mobile and self-propell too.

I think I am caught up with this thread too much. I am think... my mind is working... I think it is feasible and not not much of a technical impossibility fuss to actually include a small jump jet coupled with a foldable rotor to the Singapore's Pegusas. The distance of air travel doesn't need to be that far, a couple of kilometers will do.

Now... we are kicking ass!

You're absolutely right, the cost is absurd. Come to think of it, why helicopters in the first place? An M1A2 SEP costs around 4 million. Havocs cost 15 million. To pay back its cost, the Havoc has to kill 4 M1A2s.

Inst said:

You're absolutely right, the cost is absurd. Come to think of it, why helicopters in the first place? An M1A2 SEP costs around 4 million. Havocs cost 15 million. To pay back its cost, the Havoc has to kill 4 M1A2s.

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Because the Helicopter can fly very fast and over all kinds of terrain. The MBT cannot. The helicopter can also land in small areas, like the aft deck on a ship, or on top of a building.

But you can't/not going to use Havocs for arty. It can't lift, it's too small, wasn't designed to do so.
Regular assault helicopters will do it, and without the gadgets they are cheaper.

You can install arty inside choppers and shoot from them, yes, but the rotors will get in the way, you'll need powered wheels to rotate the gun. It's just impractical.

Hi,

What I meant in my previous reply was to actually build rotors into the artillery piece. It is a new weapon concept, much different from existing weapon concepts.

It is not a artillery piece in a helicopter, but the artillery piece is the helicopter itself.

The main thing about this concept is by letting the artillery piece to 'fly' for through difficult terrain, land on prefered ground, fired a few shots, then deploy its in-built rotors and fly away before being detected or attacked.

This would of course means that the gun is going to be small and light, but I really think all the technologies are available so it is not going to be too difficult a technical feat to put rotors on the gun.