Shahed 285, Iran's great step to build light attack helicopters

Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:09 [ Last Update: Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:55 ]

With one of the largest helicopter-manufacturing industries in the region, Iran is one of the leading countries in the field of design and construction of military and commercial helicopters in the west of Asia.

Iran Press/Iran News: Helicopters are always among the most effective flying equipment in the military arena due to their special flight characteristics such as speed, less than the speed of sound, ability to fly at low altitudes, and less time to prepare than aircraft.

The development and production of new helicopters based on existing helicopters is usual around the world, as in addition to reducing design costs, it also reduces maintenance costs and easily replaces parts of one helicopter on another member of the group.

Iran also joined helicopter producers in 1997 with the construction of the Shabaviz, which was the reverse engineering model of the Bell 205 helicopter.

In the next stage, the family of Shahed helicopters was produced in three models, "Shahed 274", "Shahed 278" and "Shahed 285", which for the first time in this family, the design and construction process was completely indigenous.

Overview

Several different helicopters have been produced using the Bell 206 helicopter platform. The construction of "Shahed 278" reconnaissance and service helicopter and the resulting experiences led to the production of the next generation of this helicopter called "Shahed 285" as a combat and identification helicopter, made by the "Shahed Aviation Industry Research Center" of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).

In fact, Shahed 285 helicopter is very similar to Shahed 278, which was unveiled a few years ago.

Shahed 285 helicopter was built using the structure, engine, transmission system, and tail of Shahed 278. To build this helicopter, it was redesigned from the tail to the front to produce a single-person attack helicopter. Parts of the fuselage and fins of this helicopter are made of non-metallic composites, which while reducing its weight, prevent corrosion and rust, and as a result, it can operate in various environments.

Absorption and reduction of engine vibrations, as well as longer durability of parts, are also features of the use of these advanced materials, which reduce maintenance costs.

Extensive use of non-metallic composites, in addition to reducing the weight of the bird, also reduces the reflection of radar waves.

Shahed 285 single-pilot helicopter is in the category of attack helicopters and can perform close reconnaissance and support missions well and target enemy equipment and forces with its various weapons.

Shahed 285 comparable to the Bell OH-58D combat reconnaissance helicopter is the armed version of the Bell 206 jet Ranger helicopter. The helicopter is built in two models for ground and naval operations, namely light attack, reconnaissance, and naval patrol and anti-ship.

Shahed 285 projects were officially unveiled for the first time on June 23, 2010, with the unveiling and flight of two of these helicopters by Shahed Aviation Industries Company of the IRGC. During the unveiling of the helicopter, a helicopter carrying 285 guns and rocket launchers flew at the nose unveiled with a mission to operate against ground targets and another armed with a cruise missile and surface search radar at the nose with a mission to operate against naval targets.

These helicopters performed well in tests and their land and sea versions were displayed at the Kish Air Show in 2011.

Shahed 285 helicopters as indigenous products with the ability to search and target and combat reconnaissance, the ability to fire in close combat, the ability to fly at high speeds at low altitudes and fire guided missiles and smart bombs, and the ability to fly properly in a variety of geographical conditions, is an important step in easing sanctions on the sale of advanced airborne systems to Iran.

Although this helicopter was designed in Shahed Industries of IRGC, this helicopter is to be produced by Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Company (HESA) in Isfahan.

Different types of Shahed helicopters have reached mass production and while increasing the process of equipping them with advanced systems in the future, they will also take part of the operational burden of ground attack of Cobra helicopters.

Weapons

The use of composites in the Shahed 285 helicopter, which has reduced its weight, has created the ability to carry a wide range of weapons for combat operations.

Marine prototype of Shahed 285 has been designed and built in the ground models of "AH85-A", "AH85-B" and "AH85-C".

The AH85-A and AH85-B models are equipped with two 70mm Hydra 70 rocket launchers, each with a capacity of 7 rockets, and a PK rifle at the nose in two fixed models with rotating turrets.

An electro-optical/thermal camera is also installed on the roof of this model. The ground type of this helicopter also has the ability to carry and fire different types of "Sadid missiles".

The naval model of the Shahed 285 helicopter (AH85-C) is equipped with 2 Kowsar anti-ship missiles or 8 Sadid missiles (4 missiles on each side).

Sadid missile weighing 34 kg is one of the missiles with triple infrared, laser, and optics guidance, which is capable of destroying all types of moving and fixed surface targets with an effective warhead in a radius of 30 meters and a radius of destruction of 5 meters. "Kowsar" anti-ship missile with a weight of 120 kg and a range of about 25 km (which is increased by firing from a moving helicopter) can be installed on each side of this helicopter.

To fire these missiles, the AH85-C relies on a multi-purpose display mounted in the cockpit. In this model, instead of shooting, a search and tracking radar is installed in the nose so that this helicopter has the ability to detect and track enemy vessels with a range of 30 to 40 kilometers.