Thailand sub-tree : Helicopter tree

[Nikolai_Kachorn]

Would you like to see Thailand in game?

• Yes
• No

Thai Helicopter Tech Tree

Hello everyone, today I will present about the Thailand helicopter research tree in the game War Thunder. I have prepared information from the original forum where there was discussion about the possibility of opening the Thailand Sub-tree. in Japan and find information to produce it in the form of Helicopter Sub-tree and will present it as follows.

The concept of merging the Thai helicopter sub-trees in Japan.
During the 1960s, the use of helicopters in Thailand became more widespread. both in the government and civil sectors both receiving assistance from the United States and from purchasing from abroad In the helicopter purchasing program, helicopters were purchased from Japan for use in the Army, Police Department, and Office of the Prime Minister, such as KH-4 S-62J Kv-107, etc. The S.62 and Kv-107 helicopters are used as VIP helicopters. The KH-4 helicopter is used for mapping by the Army and Air Force, as well as for traffic surveillance. and performing duties Support the suppression of criminals by the police department.

Kawasaki Kv-107 used by the Office of the Prime Minister

Kawasaki Kh-4 used by the Royal Thai Police

Mitshubishi S-62J used by the Royal Thai Army

The addition of the helicopter to the Japanese tech tree will add a rank 5 light attack helicopter to the Japanese tech tree. To add more interest and variety, including

Thai Helicopter Sub Tree

• If there is an error in the information, further corrections will be made.
• English may not be able to type 100%.
• May be modified to fit in the future.

The Helicopter Tech Tree

Rank V

Bell UH-1H Huey

1968 The Royal Thai Army and Royal Thai Air Force received UH-1H Huey helicopters from the United States under the Military Assistance Program. (Later, the Thai Navy received this helicopter. The Thai police received Bell 204/205 in 1963 and 1969 respectively), which were used to suppress communist terrorists in Thailand in every battlefield. using both the attack version and the transport version It is also used in search and rescue missions both during combat and during natural disasters in Thailand. All of them will be retired in 2021.

General characteristics
Crew: 2-4
Length: 17.618 m
Width: 2.908 m
Height: 4.407 m
Empty weight: 2,363 kg
Gross weight: 4,100 kg
Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft, 1,400 hp)
Main rotor diameter: 14.63 m
Main rotor area: 168.114 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 204 km/h
Cruise speed: 204 km/h
Range: 511 km
Service ceiling: 3,800 m
Rate of climb: 8.1 m/s

Armament
Guns: 2 x swivel-mounted M60D , M134
Rocket: 14 x Mk 40 FFAR Rocket

Bell UH-1H Huey with Mk81

In 1977, during the war with communist terrorists. The Royal Thai Air Force came up with the idea to increase the attack potential of the Uh-1H, so there were several trials. Including the installation of 20 lb bombs, the installation of the M3 machine gun to replace the M60D machine gun and the experimental installation of 4 Mk 81 250 lb bombs used in the battle in the north. Low bombing accuracy, as well as slow and noisy helicopters. therefore being easily attack by communist terrorists.

General characteristics
Crew: 2-4
Length: 17.618 m
Width: 2.908 m
Height: 4.407 m
Empty weight: 2,363 kg
Gross weight: 4,100 kg
Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft, 1,400 hp)
Main rotor diameter: 14.63 m
Main rotor area: 168.114 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 204 km/h
Cruise speed: 204 km/h
Range: 511 km
Service ceiling: 3,800 m
Rate of climb: 8.1 m/s

Armament
Guns: 2 x swivel-mounted M60D
Rocket: 4 x Mk.81 bomb

Bell 212 Twin Huey

In 1973 - 1978, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police Department ordered a large number of Bell 212 helicopters. It is used in tactical transport. search and rescue aviation use in attacks and being a royal aircraft with all of them being used until now, it has been modified to be armed for use in attack as well.

General characteristics
Crew: 2-4
Length: 17.58 m
Width: 2.908 m
Height: 4.39 m
Empty weight: 2,962 kg
Gross weight: 4,763 kg
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-3 or -3B coupled turboshaft engine, 1,800 hp
Main rotor diameter: 14.63 m
Main rotor area: 168.0 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 209 km/h
Cruise speed: 201 km/h
Range: 439 km
Service ceiling: 5,300 m
Rate of climb: 8.86 m/s

Armament
Guns: 2 x swivel-mounted M60D
Rocket: 38 x Hydra Rocket pod

Eurocopter AS550 C3 Fennec

The Royal Thai Army has been approved to purchase Eurocopter AS550 C3 Fennec light/multipurpose attack helicopter in 2011 and received in 2013, The AS550 C3 Fennec helicopter is a reconnaissance helicopter that can be armed. This will increase the capability of the Royal Thai Army in patrolling for news. and joint attacks with existing AH-1F helicopters.

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 10.93 m
Width: 243.4 m
Height: 3.34 m
Empty weight: 1,220 kg
Gross weight: 2,250 kg
Powerplant: 1 × Turbomeca Arriel 2B turboshaft, 847 hp
Main rotor diameter: 10.69 m
Main rotor area: 89.75 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 246 km/h
Cruise speed: 245 km/h
Range: 430 km
Service ceiling: 5,700 m
Rate of climb: 10.5 m/s

Armament
Guns: 20 mm Giat M621 cannon , Fabrique Nationale de Herstal twin 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun pods
Rocket: 7 x 70mm (2.75") Forges de Zeebrugge rocket launcher FZ220 or 12 x 68 mm Thales Brandt rockets , BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles

Rank VI

Bell AH-1F Cobra

The Royal Thai Army is currently in service with a total of 7 AH-1F helicopters, the first 4 of which were in service in 2016. B.E. 2534 (1991), with 1 machine lost in an accident in the year 2000 (2000) and procuring 4 more machines that were stationed in the United States Army (US Army) in the year 2012 (2012) HJ 1 AH-1F by providing a form of selling military equipment. Excess Defense Article (EDA) of the United States.

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 13.6m
Width: 0.99m
Height: 4.09m
Empty weight: 2,999kg
Gross weight: 4,545kg
Powerplant: 1 × gasturbine Turboshaft lycoming T-53l-703 1,800shp
Main rotor diameter: 13.4 m
Main rotor area: 141 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 276 km/h
Cruise speed: 277 km/h
Range: 537 km
Service ceiling: 3,500 m
Rate of climb: 6.2 m/s

Armament
Guns: 20 mm M197 GATLING
Rocket: 38 x Hydra 70 Rocket in M261rocket pod , 8 x BGM-71 TOW

Boeing AH -6i

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the U.S. Department of Defense has informed Congress that the U.S. government has approved the sale of eight AH-6i light attack and reconnaissance helicopters, along with weapons, parts and other support, to the Royal Thai Army. Approximately $400 million (12 billion baht) will be awarded to the Royal Thai Army through the Foreign Military Sales program in 2019 and to be handed over to the Royal Thai Army in 2024.

General characteristics
Crew: 1–2
Length: 9.94 m
Width: 1.402 m
Height: 2.48 m
Empty weight: 722 kg
Gross weight: 1,610 kg
Powerplant: 1 × One Allison 250-C30 turboshaft, 425 hp
Main rotor diameter: 8.352 m
Main rotor area: 54.61 m2

Performance
Maximum speed: 282 km/h
Cruise speed: 250 km/h
Range: 430 km
Service ceiling: 5,700 m
Rate of climb: 10.5 m/s

Armament
Guns: 2× 12.7 mm (.50 cal) GAU-19; or 2× 7.62 mm (.30 cal) M134 Minigun
Rocket: 2× LAU-68D/A seven-tube rocket pods firing 2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 rocket projectiles , Anti-tank guided missile: 2× AGM-114 Hellfire

[Insanerobert]

I see some issues with UH-1H (especially) and Bell 212 Twin Huey, they’ll sufer the same fate as AB.205 for Italy and UH-1B for Japan.

UH-1H needs more potent antitank armament to be feasible in game, otherwise it will fare like AB.205 where there’s not enough rockets to kill most ground armored units and most SPAAs will kill you with ease.
Bell 212 has a decent payload of rockets, but not enough to be an improvement over UH-1B. If Bell212 receives machine guns used by door gunners, so should any UH-1 series in-game.

However, AS550 C3 (if it gets ATGMs), AH-1F and AH-6i will be great additions for Japan, since this tree is lagging behind other nations.

[AspandaIV]

Yeah

This is one of the many reasons on why if Thailand is added as a Subtree of Japan, they should get the Philippines alongside Thailand since the Filipino operated vehicles will fill any gaps that the Thai vehicles is unable to

As much as i want to see the Japanese heil tt be more fleshed out with Thai helicopters especially the earlier tiers the UH-1H & Bell 212 will be DOA similar to the AB.205 though in the case of the AB.205 that is more due to the fact that the AB.205 is missing quite a few loadouts

[Insanerobert]

Unfortunately, AB.205 does not have much to deliver - in theory it could go with 38 FFAR missiles, but the Italians never used it on 205.

Instead, the AB.204 had more loadout options available for Italian Army and would’ve made more sense as a starter helicopter (as was proven on the old forum):

Agusta-Bell AB.204B

[Fireraid233]

It’s a start +1

[Nikolai_Kachorn]

I agree with this, the Huey and Bell weapons are lacking when it comes to tank combat. The rockets provided were not enough. (Although there was a version that used the Mk-81 grenade, it was too risky to use.) So I added an AS550 to the line to make it more usable, and used bell and huey to increase efficiency. Better usability from the UH-1B

AS-550C3 with Weapons Pod

[CokeSpray]

Suggestion passed to the developers for consideration.