- Yes
- No
Introduction
I would like to bring forth a suggestion for an Australian & New Zealand helicopter tech tree. My dream is to have Australian/New Zealand tech trees implemented in War Thunder. Obviously not as standalone tech trees, especially since our ground content would not cover a standalone tech tree, but with a partner nation/region (Canada makes a lot of sense and would be perfect) we still could offer a lot. Here I wanted to start small, as helicopter trees are relatively light on content compared to air, ground and naval but with any luck I’ll find the motivation and time to do those as well.
Ultimately Gaijin may/will implement trees as they see fit, my goal here is simply to suggest these nations as a tree, wherever they end up.
I’m not particularly hung up on the BRs, they are mostly indicative of their general position and Gaijin will place them as they see fit regardless. I am totally open to suggestions for BR and name changes though.
Below I have also presented my original draft of the tree in excel format. I have color coded the vehicles in green, to represent Australia as the operator, and black, as New Zealand the operator. I included this as I felt it was easier to read.
The Vehicles
As it stands, this tree has 3 market unique variants of helicopters, and 4 helicopters that as far as I can tell are basically the same as their origin country’s model.
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UH-1H Bushranger
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 204km/hr
Rate of Climb: 8.1m/sec
Armament: XM21 weapon system carrying 2x 7.62mm miniguns with 9600 rounds of ammunition, and 2x 7 round 70mm folding fin aerial rocket launchers. 2x door gunners, each side having 2x M60 machine guns with 1500 tracer rounds.
Brief: This unique Australian gunship modification of the UH-1H is a national icon of the Vietnam war and served in the Australian defence force right up until 2004. I have included a link to the Bushranger story below. With no guided AGMs I see it being a similar BR to Japan’s UH-1 already in game. The added machine guns and miniguns will not improve its effectiveness in War Thunder much, however the door gunners, if given the bomber turret gunner mechanic, might be useful on occasion.
UH-1B Ned Kelly
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 217km/hr
Armament: XM16 weapon system carrying 4x forward firing M60 machine guns, and 2x 7 round 70mm folding fin aerial rockets. 2x door gunners, each side having 2x M60 machine guns.
Brief: The prototype gunship Huey based on the Bravo model. Slightly worse than the UH-1H Bushranger, but the beginnings of a legend and a possible premium option. This same page I linked for the UH-1H also covers the Ned Kelly.
SH-2G Super Seasprite
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 255km/hr
Rate of climb: 12.7m/s
Armament: 2x AGM-65D Maverick or 2x Mk 46 torpedoes
Brief: New Zealand had five SH-2G Super Seasprites before taking on ex-Australian SH-2G (I) helicopters. This could be placed in an interesting place within game, having two missiles that might be quite effective for the BR, but only two before needing to land and reload. Having naval capability also sets up this tree for if/when the game heads in that direction for naval battles. Since the regular tech tree would get the later SH-2G (I) Super Seasprite anyway, the G model makes a good option for a premium.
SH-2G (I) Super Seasprite
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 256km/hr
Rate of climb: 12.7m/s
Armament: 2x AGM-119 Penguin MK2 or 2x Mk 46 torpedoes
Brief: New Zealand had placed an order for SH-2G Super Seasprites at the same time Australia did, the first 5 coming in to service in 2001. Australia’s program for the SH-2G (A) however ran way over budget and eventually was decided it no longer even fit the requirements. In 2013 New Zealand announced it would buy 10 of Australia’s 11 Super Seasprites and they were redesignated the SH-2G (I). Just how or whether the Penguin AGM could be used to aim at tanks, I’m not entirely sure (the guidance system to me suggests it could be aimed at tanks), however it could once again offer a potentially quite powerful missile at a lower BR than expected due to the helicopter only being able to carry two.
EC-665 Tiger ARH
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 290km/hr (with armament)
Armament: 1x 30mm GIAT M781 Cannon, up to 54x Thales FZ90 70mm rockets with APKWS laser guidance, up to 8x Hellfire II AGM missiles progressively through time in AGM-114M, AGM-114R and AGM-114R2 variants
Brief: Link to suggestion post The Tiger ARH is the Australian version of the EC-665 Tiger, the first 4 were assembled in France while the next 18 were assembled in Australia.
MH-60R Seahawk
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 333km/hr
Armament: Up to 2x Mk 54 torpedoes, up to 4x AGM-114 Hellfire II in AGM-114N and AGM-114R variants, 19x AGR-20/A APKWS rockets, 1x door mounted GAU-21 heavy machine gun
Brief: The MH-60R Seahawk is obviously the naval variant of the Blackhawk. This version can not carry as many Hellfire missiles but still has APKWS rockets to back them up and a full suite of radars, sensors including MAW and countermeasures. If helicopter door gunners ever get the bomber turret mechanic in game, it’s another little added tool (albeit probably not that useful). Australia has 23 currently in service and another 13 on order.
AH-64E Apache Guardian
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Specifications:
Top Speed: 293km/hr
Armament: 1x 30mm M230 chain gun, up to 16x AGM Hellfire II missiles expected to carry on with Australia’s stocks of AGM-114R2 variant, up to 76x 70mm rockets like to carry on with Australia’s APKWS weapon stocks
Brief: The Tiger ARH is scheduled for replacement in the Australian Army with the AH-64E with deliveries commencing in 2025, and expected to come in to service in 2026. 29 are on order, part of me hopes we get them painted in Australian camo.
Why is Australia and New Zealand Together?
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Australia and New Zealand are so geographically and geopolitically intertwined that historically when it comes to military matters, we are basically one. Both countries were founded by the English Empire, and were Empire states prior to the forming of the Commonwealth, and both are still members of the Commonwealth today. It is not commonly known, but during the Federation of Australia, New Zealand was offered to become a state of the country of Australia (along with Fiji) and while they declined, it is still written within the Australian Constitution that they can join any time if they changed their mind.
ANZAC stands for Australian & New Zealand Army Corps, and was a joint army corps between the two nations during WW1. The term was also used for joint cooperation between Australia and New Zealand during WW2 and Vietnam. ANZAC Day (an event suggestion I have posted here and has been passed to developers) is a nationally observed public holiday in both nations in remembrance of all Australians and New Zealanders that have served.
Conclusion
I will repeat that I am totally open to suggestions here, name changes, BR changes, new vehicles to add, I’d love to hear it all. I feel Australia in particular can offer the game a lot, with indigenous designs across air, naval, and ground, and locally modified/built unique variants across air, ground, naval and heli. New Zealand would mostly be “copy paste” vehicles, they could be handled in such a way that their vehicles could be premiums or tech tree depending on requirement, but any Australian inclusion simply must include New Zealand as well for reasons mentioned above. And with that said, I’d be thrilled to have those “copy paste” vehicles in Australian and New Zealand skins within our trees regardless.