Allanea
05-03-2008, 09:05
SoulHarvester Ground Attack UCAV
Overview
The deterioration of Allanean-Doomani relations, and, further, the various flaws of the Corvus system – such as the fact it was designed for a twin-pilot set-up, rather than the single-pilot set-up of the previous-generation Allanean attack helicopters – prompted a rethinking of combat helicopter design by both Allanean Arms and the Department for Research, Evolution And Development [DREAD].
The Department scientists, headed by Reijiro Techno himself, and their counterparts at the R&D Division of Allanean Arms evaluated Allanean use of combat helicopters in previous engagements, most particularly the African conflict versus Doomani, Whyatican, and local African militarie and the NATO-Questarian conflict.
What emerged was the conclusion that the Allaneans had the tendency to use their combat helicopters primarily in the ground support role, the anti-helicopter role being secondary to that application. It was decided, thus, that the future combat helicopter would be a UCAV.
The first impulse was then to try and purchase the Juumanistran 'Bebilith' drone helicopter, or, better yet, domestic production rights to that aircraft, and have the parts for it produced by Allanean Arms, but, due to the fact the Juumanistran Congress had prohibited strategic exports to the United States, the Allaneans had decided to design their own craft.
Thus was born the SoulHarvester.
Design
Like it's predecessors, the ACI-37ALN Corvus (the single-seat version of the famous Doomani helicopter, designed for export to the United States of Allanea) and the KA-50AL (a copy of the famous Kamov design, modernized by Allanean Arms), the SoulHarvester is built to assure the utmost battlefield survivability – though the means undertaken to assure that survivability are sometimes quite a bit different.
Like the two previous aircraft, the SoulHarvester operates based on a pair of contra-rotating rotor sets, which allows it to be more maneuverable and efficient than a conventional helicopter, as well as reducing its vulnerability by removing the tail rotor – both a weak spot open to attack by anti-helicopter munitions (and even RPG rounds used in the anti-air role) and a liability in close-quarter maneuvers, especially in the kind of urban and counterinsurgency environments where an attack helicopter is most often required in modern warfare.
But the area where the SoulHarvester truly triumphs over the predecessor aircraft is pilot placement – or rather the lack thereof. Instead, the Allaneans have eliminated the pilot – and with him the need for an armored pilot cabin, OLED screens, ejection seats, life support and safety systems for the benefit of the human pilot – and saved both weight (about 500 kilograms of it) and money.
This does not mean, however, that the aircraft is not extensively armored. The fuselage of the helicopter, its engines, and the location of the avionics are all heavily armored with titanium and ceramics, just as the fuselage of a helicopter deployed by any other Havenic or Gholgoth nation. The engine casings of the helicopter can survive impacts of up to 25mm HEI ammunition, and the avionics package that makes it tick can take even more – as it is located on the innermost location of the fuselage, and any round to hit it would have to penetrate through the entire chopper to get through.
Naturally, the onboard countermeasures of the aircraft extend beyond the level of mere conventional armor. The entire aircraft is covered by infrared absorbent paint, and the engines on the SoulHarvester are designed with a built-in infra-red suppression system. The use of five, rather than two, rotor blades, also serves to protect the helicopter by reducing its sound signature.
But even that was not enough for the people in DREAD. The helicopter is designed with a KHI 'GrendelSpell' helicopter anti-missile defense mount – named after the spell that protected the monster Grendel against the Geats' weapons, and designed as a more advanced version of the helicopter active defense systems originally tested by the Air Force of the Old United States of America, its' purpose is to protect the SoulHarvester from enemy RPG and anti-air missiles. Further, a SEPS system is installed aboard the UCAV, designed to protect it against electronically-fused enemy munitions.
Computer
The most important system aboard the SoulHarvester is its' onboard computer. It is a quadruple-redundancy system (i.e., there are actually four computers, to replace each other in case of failure) with the power of 20 teraflops, a 32-GB RAM, and 2 terabytes of onboard memory (dedicated mostly to enemy vehicle identification data).
It is a direct successor of the computers used on such systems as the MQ8B Fire Scout and other Old American and Old European UCAVs. As such, it has remarkable capacity, and is superior in certain parameters to the human pilot.
While the UCAV in question is capable of being remotely piloted, it is capable of various degrees of autonomy. In theory, its operator may (and usually will) order it to eliminate all hostiles in a certain area, and it will identify on its own all IFVs and troops seen as hostile (based on their uniform and markings, their IR signature, or other sensor signatures), or even eradicate all human presence in an area if so programmed, however a human in the loop is still advised on, to avoid friendly fire incidents or accidental elimination of civilian targets (often referred to in anti-Allanean or leftist media sources as 'war crimes' or even 'genocide').
Disclaimer: Allanean Arms declines all responsibility for undue casualties or any damage caused by inappropriate use of the SoulHarvester or the violation of the SoulHarvester Safety Manual.
Armament:
As an attack helicopter design, naturally the Soulharvester has firepower ranked among its most key priorities, if not the key priority under consideration.
It is armed, first of all, with a single 45mm Swift Kill autocannon chain gun (a variant of the Hughes XM230E1 chaingun, rechambered for the 20*141mm cartridge). The cannon can fire both standard cased ammunition, and special aircraft ammunition that utilizes disintegrating plastic cases – which enables both a greater ammunition capacity and a larger amount of ammo. It can be equipped with either a DU round for anti-armor work, or an HEI round for operations against light-skinned vehicles and unhardened structures.
But the key armament of the SoulHarvester is its use of the Allanean Modular Armament System [AMAS], the same as utilized in the KA-50AL, and roughly similar to that in the ACI-37 Corvus.
The AMAS is composed of two stub wings, similar to those on its predecessor aircraft, allowing for 3 wing hardpoints and a wingtip hardpoint each, upon which weapons can be mounted. Between the hardpoints, each winglet is capable of carrying a variety of weaponry up to a total weight of two tons, such as:
Underwing hardpoints:
Unguided rocket launch pods.
Unguided bombs
ATGM mounts (up to 8 Corona-V Doomani missiles per mount or equivalent per underwing hardpoint)
Air-to-air missiles (1 per mount).
Standard Allanean Arms gun pods.
Wingtip hardpoints:
Air-to-Air missiles (2)
ATGM mount (1, Corona-V type)
It is to be noted that standard Allanean Arms weapon pods are semi-maneuverable and, in the case of gun pods, equipped with their own limited sensor suites, enabling the UCAV's computer to track and engage targets with them independently of each other, something that a human pilot would find difficult.
Propulsion
The SoulHarvester's propulsion system, like the propulsion systems of its predecessors, the venerable ACI-37ALN and KA-50AL, is designed with utmost maneuverability in mind. Quite like its predecessors, it utilizes a dual-rotor system to increase the agility of the craft. A pair of 3200-shp Allanean Arms engines allows a very slightly performance increase over previous aircraft of the type in Allanean service, specifically allowing for a maximum speed of 375 kilometers per hour.
The use of five-bladed rotors allows for lower noise during propulsion, and while naturally it is still not silent (hey, it's a combat helicopter, not a hippiemobile). The rotors themselves have been constructed from special polymer composites (like the KA-50ALN rotors), serving to increase their durability in unconventional environments (read: combat). The engines both feature infrared suppresors as well as IR absorbant paint, as has been detailed in previous sections of this article.
Avionics:
As explained before, the Soulharvester is operated completely by computer system (which is quadruple-redundant). It is equipped by a quadruple-redundant electronic-control system which is actually two, separately redundant, electronic control systems – a dually-redundant fly-by-wire system and a dually-redundant Fly-By-Light system.
The computer itself is uplinked to its central facilities via the Allanean standard 'Palantir' system, combining the functions of equipment such such as HF SSB (High Frequency-Single Side Band), VHF/UHF, SINCGARS, Have Quick, EJS, JTIDS, and other facilities, and is capable with realtime cooperation with ground units.
It is equipped with a millimetric wave fire control RADAR (optimal range 34 kilometers) installed in a compact radome above the main rotors, FLIR and optical imaging sensors. At altitudes below 200 meters it also utilizes a carrier-free RADAR scanner to detect enemy forces, up to and including being able to scan through the very roofs of projected enemy facilities.
Electronic Warfare:
The SoulHarvester implements a variety of active and passive defenses. It has a built-in infrared signature suppression system, similar in principle to the system implemented by TPMI/EC and IAC in the construction of the famous Corvus helicopters (Corvi were tested extensively during work on the SoulHarvester program. It draws in cooler air from an inlet above the tailboom, mixing it with the engine exhaust to reduce infra-red signature by about 75% compared to what would have been had SoulHarvester lacked the system.
Furthermore, an Allanean Arms SHWS (Super Heterodyne Warning System) detects illumination by hostile systems, while a LASER system serves to denote illumination by LIDAR and beam-riding systems.
In terms of active defenses, the SoulHarvester features dual chaff dispensers as well as the KHI 'GrendelSpell' system earlier detail, and further is equipped with an AAJ-6 infared jammer, a KHIJ-5 RF jammer capable of intervening with both hostile radio and RADAR communications.
Country of Origin: Allanea
Builder: Allanean Arms
Role: Ground-attack and anti-helicopter UCAV
Crew: Unapplicable
Blades:10 (2 heads, 5 blades each)
Rotor diameter: 14.5 meters
Wing span: 6.5 meters
Length:
Rotors turning: 16 meters
Fuselage: 8 meters
Height:
Gear extended: 5 meters
Gear retracted: 4 meters
Cargo Compartment Dimensions: Negligible
Engines: 2x 3,200-shp
Weight:
Maximum Gross: 17,500 kg
Normal Takeoff: 13,500 kg
Empty: 10,000 kg
Standard Payload: External weapons load: 4,000 kg on 6 under-wing stores points and 2 wingtip hardpoints.
Speed:
Maximum: 375 km/h
Cruise: 300 km/h
Sideward: 155+ km/h
Rearward: 155+ km/h
Turn Rate: unlimited
Max “G” Force: +4.5 to +5 g
Ceiling:
Service: 6,500 meters
Hover (out of ground effect): 5,000 meters
Hover (in ground effect): 6,500 meters
Vertical Climb Rate: 17 m/s
Range (km):
Maximum Load: 5 hours flight time
Normal Load: 6 hours flight time
With Aux Fuel: Not Determined
Cost: $30,000,000
Production Rights: Not Available
OOC:
Credit goes to Doom for the ACI-37 Corvus, to Kamov for KA-50, and to the various producers of RL military UCAV helicopters.
This has been posted on #draftroom and met with no opposition.
Overview
The deterioration of Allanean-Doomani relations, and, further, the various flaws of the Corvus system – such as the fact it was designed for a twin-pilot set-up, rather than the single-pilot set-up of the previous-generation Allanean attack helicopters – prompted a rethinking of combat helicopter design by both Allanean Arms and the Department for Research, Evolution And Development [DREAD].
The Department scientists, headed by Reijiro Techno himself, and their counterparts at the R&D Division of Allanean Arms evaluated Allanean use of combat helicopters in previous engagements, most particularly the African conflict versus Doomani, Whyatican, and local African militarie and the NATO-Questarian conflict.
What emerged was the conclusion that the Allaneans had the tendency to use their combat helicopters primarily in the ground support role, the anti-helicopter role being secondary to that application. It was decided, thus, that the future combat helicopter would be a UCAV.
The first impulse was then to try and purchase the Juumanistran 'Bebilith' drone helicopter, or, better yet, domestic production rights to that aircraft, and have the parts for it produced by Allanean Arms, but, due to the fact the Juumanistran Congress had prohibited strategic exports to the United States, the Allaneans had decided to design their own craft.
Thus was born the SoulHarvester.
Design
Like it's predecessors, the ACI-37ALN Corvus (the single-seat version of the famous Doomani helicopter, designed for export to the United States of Allanea) and the KA-50AL (a copy of the famous Kamov design, modernized by Allanean Arms), the SoulHarvester is built to assure the utmost battlefield survivability – though the means undertaken to assure that survivability are sometimes quite a bit different.
Like the two previous aircraft, the SoulHarvester operates based on a pair of contra-rotating rotor sets, which allows it to be more maneuverable and efficient than a conventional helicopter, as well as reducing its vulnerability by removing the tail rotor – both a weak spot open to attack by anti-helicopter munitions (and even RPG rounds used in the anti-air role) and a liability in close-quarter maneuvers, especially in the kind of urban and counterinsurgency environments where an attack helicopter is most often required in modern warfare.
But the area where the SoulHarvester truly triumphs over the predecessor aircraft is pilot placement – or rather the lack thereof. Instead, the Allaneans have eliminated the pilot – and with him the need for an armored pilot cabin, OLED screens, ejection seats, life support and safety systems for the benefit of the human pilot – and saved both weight (about 500 kilograms of it) and money.
This does not mean, however, that the aircraft is not extensively armored. The fuselage of the helicopter, its engines, and the location of the avionics are all heavily armored with titanium and ceramics, just as the fuselage of a helicopter deployed by any other Havenic or Gholgoth nation. The engine casings of the helicopter can survive impacts of up to 25mm HEI ammunition, and the avionics package that makes it tick can take even more – as it is located on the innermost location of the fuselage, and any round to hit it would have to penetrate through the entire chopper to get through.
Naturally, the onboard countermeasures of the aircraft extend beyond the level of mere conventional armor. The entire aircraft is covered by infrared absorbent paint, and the engines on the SoulHarvester are designed with a built-in infra-red suppression system. The use of five, rather than two, rotor blades, also serves to protect the helicopter by reducing its sound signature.
But even that was not enough for the people in DREAD. The helicopter is designed with a KHI 'GrendelSpell' helicopter anti-missile defense mount – named after the spell that protected the monster Grendel against the Geats' weapons, and designed as a more advanced version of the helicopter active defense systems originally tested by the Air Force of the Old United States of America, its' purpose is to protect the SoulHarvester from enemy RPG and anti-air missiles. Further, a SEPS system is installed aboard the UCAV, designed to protect it against electronically-fused enemy munitions.
Computer
The most important system aboard the SoulHarvester is its' onboard computer. It is a quadruple-redundancy system (i.e., there are actually four computers, to replace each other in case of failure) with the power of 20 teraflops, a 32-GB RAM, and 2 terabytes of onboard memory (dedicated mostly to enemy vehicle identification data).
It is a direct successor of the computers used on such systems as the MQ8B Fire Scout and other Old American and Old European UCAVs. As such, it has remarkable capacity, and is superior in certain parameters to the human pilot.
While the UCAV in question is capable of being remotely piloted, it is capable of various degrees of autonomy. In theory, its operator may (and usually will) order it to eliminate all hostiles in a certain area, and it will identify on its own all IFVs and troops seen as hostile (based on their uniform and markings, their IR signature, or other sensor signatures), or even eradicate all human presence in an area if so programmed, however a human in the loop is still advised on, to avoid friendly fire incidents or accidental elimination of civilian targets (often referred to in anti-Allanean or leftist media sources as 'war crimes' or even 'genocide').
Disclaimer: Allanean Arms declines all responsibility for undue casualties or any damage caused by inappropriate use of the SoulHarvester or the violation of the SoulHarvester Safety Manual.
Armament:
As an attack helicopter design, naturally the Soulharvester has firepower ranked among its most key priorities, if not the key priority under consideration.
It is armed, first of all, with a single 45mm Swift Kill autocannon chain gun (a variant of the Hughes XM230E1 chaingun, rechambered for the 20*141mm cartridge). The cannon can fire both standard cased ammunition, and special aircraft ammunition that utilizes disintegrating plastic cases – which enables both a greater ammunition capacity and a larger amount of ammo. It can be equipped with either a DU round for anti-armor work, or an HEI round for operations against light-skinned vehicles and unhardened structures.
But the key armament of the SoulHarvester is its use of the Allanean Modular Armament System [AMAS], the same as utilized in the KA-50AL, and roughly similar to that in the ACI-37 Corvus.
The AMAS is composed of two stub wings, similar to those on its predecessor aircraft, allowing for 3 wing hardpoints and a wingtip hardpoint each, upon which weapons can be mounted. Between the hardpoints, each winglet is capable of carrying a variety of weaponry up to a total weight of two tons, such as:
Underwing hardpoints:
Unguided rocket launch pods.
Unguided bombs
ATGM mounts (up to 8 Corona-V Doomani missiles per mount or equivalent per underwing hardpoint)
Air-to-air missiles (1 per mount).
Standard Allanean Arms gun pods.
Wingtip hardpoints:
Air-to-Air missiles (2)
ATGM mount (1, Corona-V type)
It is to be noted that standard Allanean Arms weapon pods are semi-maneuverable and, in the case of gun pods, equipped with their own limited sensor suites, enabling the UCAV's computer to track and engage targets with them independently of each other, something that a human pilot would find difficult.
Propulsion
The SoulHarvester's propulsion system, like the propulsion systems of its predecessors, the venerable ACI-37ALN and KA-50AL, is designed with utmost maneuverability in mind. Quite like its predecessors, it utilizes a dual-rotor system to increase the agility of the craft. A pair of 3200-shp Allanean Arms engines allows a very slightly performance increase over previous aircraft of the type in Allanean service, specifically allowing for a maximum speed of 375 kilometers per hour.
The use of five-bladed rotors allows for lower noise during propulsion, and while naturally it is still not silent (hey, it's a combat helicopter, not a hippiemobile). The rotors themselves have been constructed from special polymer composites (like the KA-50ALN rotors), serving to increase their durability in unconventional environments (read: combat). The engines both feature infrared suppresors as well as IR absorbant paint, as has been detailed in previous sections of this article.
Avionics:
As explained before, the Soulharvester is operated completely by computer system (which is quadruple-redundant). It is equipped by a quadruple-redundant electronic-control system which is actually two, separately redundant, electronic control systems – a dually-redundant fly-by-wire system and a dually-redundant Fly-By-Light system.
The computer itself is uplinked to its central facilities via the Allanean standard 'Palantir' system, combining the functions of equipment such such as HF SSB (High Frequency-Single Side Band), VHF/UHF, SINCGARS, Have Quick, EJS, JTIDS, and other facilities, and is capable with realtime cooperation with ground units.
It is equipped with a millimetric wave fire control RADAR (optimal range 34 kilometers) installed in a compact radome above the main rotors, FLIR and optical imaging sensors. At altitudes below 200 meters it also utilizes a carrier-free RADAR scanner to detect enemy forces, up to and including being able to scan through the very roofs of projected enemy facilities.
Electronic Warfare:
The SoulHarvester implements a variety of active and passive defenses. It has a built-in infrared signature suppression system, similar in principle to the system implemented by TPMI/EC and IAC in the construction of the famous Corvus helicopters (Corvi were tested extensively during work on the SoulHarvester program. It draws in cooler air from an inlet above the tailboom, mixing it with the engine exhaust to reduce infra-red signature by about 75% compared to what would have been had SoulHarvester lacked the system.
Furthermore, an Allanean Arms SHWS (Super Heterodyne Warning System) detects illumination by hostile systems, while a LASER system serves to denote illumination by LIDAR and beam-riding systems.
In terms of active defenses, the SoulHarvester features dual chaff dispensers as well as the KHI 'GrendelSpell' system earlier detail, and further is equipped with an AAJ-6 infared jammer, a KHIJ-5 RF jammer capable of intervening with both hostile radio and RADAR communications.
Country of Origin: Allanea
Builder: Allanean Arms
Role: Ground-attack and anti-helicopter UCAV
Crew: Unapplicable
Blades:10 (2 heads, 5 blades each)
Rotor diameter: 14.5 meters
Wing span: 6.5 meters
Length:
Rotors turning: 16 meters
Fuselage: 8 meters
Height:
Gear extended: 5 meters
Gear retracted: 4 meters
Cargo Compartment Dimensions: Negligible
Engines: 2x 3,200-shp
Weight:
Maximum Gross: 17,500 kg
Normal Takeoff: 13,500 kg
Empty: 10,000 kg
Standard Payload: External weapons load: 4,000 kg on 6 under-wing stores points and 2 wingtip hardpoints.
Speed:
Maximum: 375 km/h
Cruise: 300 km/h
Sideward: 155+ km/h
Rearward: 155+ km/h
Turn Rate: unlimited
Max “G” Force: +4.5 to +5 g
Ceiling:
Service: 6,500 meters
Hover (out of ground effect): 5,000 meters
Hover (in ground effect): 6,500 meters
Vertical Climb Rate: 17 m/s
Range (km):
Maximum Load: 5 hours flight time
Normal Load: 6 hours flight time
With Aux Fuel: Not Determined
Cost: $30,000,000
Production Rights: Not Available
OOC:
Credit goes to Doom for the ACI-37 Corvus, to Kamov for KA-50, and to the various producers of RL military UCAV helicopters.
This has been posted on #draftroom and met with no opposition.