Eh, the gear pontoons look like caravans and the Turbines look like they forgot them at first and just slapped them on, IMO the best looking transport heli is a toss up between the Twin Huey, Lynx, or AW101
Eh, IMO the naval lynx’s look better than the Wildcat, I can’t get over the flat windscreen lmao
Yeah I can see those flaws, but again different utilities. Blackhawk is definitely the better battlefield utility helicopter, but NH-90 is a better maritime helicopter (when it works, which it doesn’t), so I’d buy Blackhawk variant, but ideally Merlin or Wildcat.
But i’d dispute some of your points, for example as you mentioned NH-90 has the rear-ramp, soldiers disembark at the rear and sides, Blackhawk also has a door gunner even more in the way. As you said more ways to disembark, in which case NH-90 has 3. They don’t have to mount the ramp gun and unlike Blackhawk variants, they have the option. They also have window mounted guns as an option, rather than door guns, which leaves the entire door free again, Blackhawk doesn’t have this option.
I thought we were comparing it to S-70 platforms. You can’t do everything on one helicopter. On a strictly naval basis the NH-90 has a huge leg up as it is equipped with floatation gear, there is not S-70 platform with this. SH-60B got them, and then promptly had them removed as they didn’t work, and got in the way of personnel exiting. The UK’s own trials with floatation gear found that adding it to a helicopter improved survivability of crew by more than 100%, and increased rescue requirements from 13 minutes to more than 2.5 hours.
CH-53K also doesn’t fit on anything smaller than an aircraft carrier. Again they’re different specifications you’re now talking about. A CH-53K also has no ASW capabilities at all. Heavy lift =/= utility/transport.
Anyway, Merlin is the best naval helicopter imo, though its a different class to S-70.
Main thing for me would probably be the floatation gear point though.
It’s a big shame they for some reason haven’t figured out how to add it for the S-70 platforms, that’s where that minimalistic and ‘combat’ focused design as you put it has its drawbacks. As if you had to ditch in that, you’re in the sea. Whereas in an NH-90 the helicopter floats and the batteries can provide heating.
But i’d rather have no helicopter than a money-pit helicopter that I can only fly 15% of the time.
So solution… Buy Lynx or Merlin best of both worlds.
Isn’t the Dutch D.XXI now one of only few aircraft in-game that has a fully-metric dial/gauge layout? (nvm, most older French aircraft with HD cockpits also have that, if you discount the ‘pieds’/feet for some)
Prefer the Korean export wing also, but you aren’t going to fit a 5-pod LMM launcher under that, you don’t have the clearance, particularly if you consider a hard landing at sea on a smaller sized vessel like an OPV or Frigate.