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Description: The Agusta AB212 ASW EW is an Italian anti-submarine/electronic warfare helicopter made in the Cold War. It made its first flight in 1976 and was mainly adopted by the Italian Navy, which used a total of 68 units. Most of the units acquired by the Italian Navy were in the ASW version, but 5 of them were in another more obscure version, the EW (Electronic Warfare). These units were equipped with a special suite of various jammers to identify and disturb enemy radars. They were equipped with the ESM/ECM ETL 165 jamming suite denominated “Gufo” (Owl). It was composed of three main subsystems: a jammer (ETL-361), a detector of electromagnetic emissions (ETL-161), and a generator of electronic noises (ELT-651). The EW was able to perform various missions, such as ELINT, where the helicopter had to identify the enemy vessel after analyzing its radar impulse, and actual electronic warfare, where the helicopters were intended to disturb and deceive the enemy radar and systems of the enemy warships. It primarily uses two types of disturb modes: The first one was called “General Diffusion,” which was carried out by “budding” the nearly zone on general frequencies, especially when the enemy frequencies were unknown, while the second one was called “Spot Jamming,” which was obtained by concentrating in a single direction a very precise emission to saturate the enemy radar. In most situations, these techniques mainly aim to mask the helicopter, making it basically a “background sound” on the enemy radar. In the field of electronic deception, the helicopter adopted more sophisticated profiles to confuse the enemy radar, analyzing and identifying various information about the target (speed, altitude, number of vehicles, route, etc.). They were also equipped with two countermeasure launchers, one per side. While they were used a lot by the Italian Navy in different conflicts (such as Afghanistan), their actual role was not described, as it was kept in secrecy. But it is well known that they operated for a lot of time alongside the Sparviero-class hydrofoils because they were needed to protect the light units from the enemy’s radar. The five units in service were decommissioned some time ago, and two of them were conserved as gate guardians at the Italian air base of Grottaglie.
Why it should be in the game: Alongside the standard AB212 ASW, the EW could be a very good vehicle if electronic war and more advanced jamming features will be introduced in war thunder, as it will give various problems to the enemy spaa radars, helping the team and keeping itself safe.
Specifications
Riepilogo
Armaments
Riepilogo
Machinegun/cannons
2x 2x FN M3P 12.7 mm machine gun pod
2x 7.62 mm Minigun door gun
2x 7.62 Beretta MG42 door gun
Rockets
38x 76 mm Mighty mouse
Air to ground missiles
2x AS12
Anti ship missiles
2x Marte Mk2
2x Sea Skua
Torpedo
2x MK44
2x MK46
2x A244 AS
Sources
Riepilogo
Books: Italian Aviations series, AB212, in service with Italian air force, navy and army.
https://www.marina.difesa.it/EN/thefleet/airfleet/Pagine/ab212.aspx
Agusta Bell AB 212
Marina Militare Italiana - AB 212 ASW 1
Pictures
