When it comes to Black Hawk helicopters, everyone should be familiar with it. The Black Hawk helicopter is a product of Sikorsky Corporation of the United States. This is a 10-ton general-purpose helicopter. The prototype made its first flight in 1974. In 1979, it was officially equipped with the U.S. Army. 

Subsequently, the Black Hawk helicopters were exported in large quantities. The Black Hawk helicopters have a variety of improved models, such as the SH-60 naval type, the MH-60 multi-purpose type, and the HH-60 Paving Hawk for special operations. In addition to the United States, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has also been approved to produce improve variant of Black Hawk helicopter.

According to Wikipedia, there are currently more than 4,000 Black Hawk helicopters in the world, and those major changes are not counted here.

In recent decades, as long as there are armed conflicts in many parts of the world happening, Americans are almost indispensable. As long as there are Americans participating, there must be American Black Hawk helicopters. Compared with Russian helicopters, Black Hawk helicopters have higher combat effectiveness, longer service life, and low maintenance costs. In addition, the Black Hawk helicopter has a large number of improved models, so this helicopter can meet the combat needs of multiple services.

MH-60L DAP armed helicopter

Regarding the normal version of the Black Hawk helicopter, everyone should be familiar with the attack version. Today, I will introduce an unpopular Black Hawk helicopter. This is the MH-60L DAP armed helicopter. As we all know, the Black Hawk helicopter is a general purpose helicopter. Can transport a large number of soldiers.

The MH-60L DAP gunship is different. This is a similar shape to the Black Hawk helicopter, but it is used purely as an expert ԍuɴsнιᴘ. This helicopter is an improvement based on the MH-60L helicopter. The main user is the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the US Army.

From the picture, you can see that the MH-60L DAP ԍuɴsнιᴘ uses a unique wᴇᴀᴘoɴ pylon, with 4 Helina anti-tank missiles mounted under the short wings, 1 19-round Hydra 70mm rocket nest, and two sets of M230. 30mm cannon, M230 30mm cannon is the equipment used by AH-64 Apache ԍuɴsнιᴘ.

While Apache ԍuɴsнιᴘ only uses one set, and MH-60L DAP ԍuɴsнιᴘ can use two sets. Its firepower is higher than the AH-64. It is twice as much as the Apache ԍuɴsнιᴘ. If you don’t have your own air defense system on the battlefield, you will not be able to handle it when you encounter the MH-60L DAP ԍuɴsнιᴘ.

M230 30mm cannon of MH-60L DAP armed helicopter

The picture is a close-up of the M230 30mm cannon. This cannon has achieved a good record in local wars in the past 30 years. Its attacking power has been seen in many news.

The picture shows the 19-tube Hydra 70mm rocket nest, which is a standard equipment commonly used by armed helicopters in Western countries. Rockets are one of the most effective equipment for attacking ground targets in a low-altitude and low-speed environment.

There are multiple versions of the MH-60L DAP gunship. The main difference is that there are lengthened and widened pylons, and the small pylon in the picture. When the small pylon is used, its ammunition capacity is half less. The specific pylon used depends on the actual situation of the ʙᴀттʟᴇғιᴇʟᴅ. The MH-60L DAP ԍuɴsнιᴘ in the picture is equipped with 4 Haierfa anti-tank missiles and an M230 30mm cannon. This firepower is also very good under normal ʙᴀттʟᴇғιᴇʟᴅ conditions.

Pay attention to the close-up of the side of the MH-60L DAP gunship in the picture. From this angle, you can see an M230 30mm machine ԍuɴ. Next to the machine ԍuɴ there is an M134 machine ԍuɴ. The M134 machine ԍuɴ is also the legendary Gatling machine ԍuɴ. 6-tube configuration, using 7.62*51mm full-power ʙoмʙ, its firepower density is quite amazing. The wᴇᴀᴘoɴ pylon of the MH-60L DAP ԍuɴship can sometimes be equipped with a GAU-19 machine ԍuɴ pod. This machine ԍuɴ has a 12.7mm caliber. The machine ԍuɴ adopts a 3-tube Gatling design and can fire 12.7*99mm machine ԍuɴ rounds. Everyone can imagine the intensity of its firepower.

It can be seen that although the prototype of the MH-60L DAP armed helicopter is the Black Hawk general purpose helicopter, this helicopter is equipped with powerful firepower, and its ground support is not weaker than the AH-64 Apache armed helicopter. Ordinary Black Hawk helicopters are mixed, and their flight performance is relatively similar.

In terms of logistical maintenance, many parts can also be unified. It can be said that the MH-60L DAP armed helicopter is the most powerful Black Hawk helicopter we have seen so far. For example, in the picture, 2 30mm machine ԍuɴs, 2 7.62mm Gatling machine ԍuɴs, 4 Haierfa, 19 rockets, such equipment is simply a disaster for ground troops. This unpopular Black Hawk helicopter is similar in appearance to the Black Hawk, but is purely designed for ground attack.