Iran Military Forum

From my blog...
http://thearkenstone.blogspot.com/2009/07/shahed-285.html

The Shahed 285 is a light attack/recon helicopter recently announced and presumably put into serial production by Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA). It was shown along side other indigenous helicopter projects. It comes in two versions, a naval and over-land version. It is intended for the role of a light attack, recon helicopter, contrary to what some have been saying, it is NOT intended to compete with the AH-1, it is roughly equivelent to the US's OH-58 scout helicopter. In fact, more then half the comments i have read about it have been along the vein of "Apache food" or "its weak and tiny" so i have to stress, its meant to be this way, its meant to be a light, cheap helicopter.

Bell-206 Origin:
Most likely developed from the Bell 206 and the Iranian equivalent, Shabaviz 278; This is shown by two major and a litany of smaller features, the first is the engine, the Rolls-Royce 250, noticeable in the exhaust pipe located behind the rotor head, identical to those found on the Bell 206.In fact, from 2005 -to- 2008 three Irish citizens purchased these engines from the US and sold them through intermediaries like Malaysia and the UAE to Iran in order to circumvent export restrictions. It is extremely likely that these engines went into the production of these helicopters. 17 engines were delivered before the conspirators were arrested. (1)
The second feature that likens it to the 206 is the T-tail design. Other similar, but small details are the rotor-heads, nose designs and the weapon pylons.

Zafar-300 Origin:
While at first most posters on online forums likened it to a Cobra, the 285 more closely resembles the Zafar-300, a recon helicopter developed in the 1990’s with a mockup/prototype built but with nothing more heard since then, indeed it was believed to have gone the way of the Shafaq, another cancelled project. But it is my belief that it simply became the 285, the similarities between the two projects are uncanny. One has only to compare the pictures below
Both seem to be developed from the Bell 206 with the same engine and tail. Both fulfil the light attack/recce roll and are armed with roughly the same weaponty, rocket pods and a light machine gun (although the Zafar-300 was armed with a minigun.
However the one feature that did not make it into the 285 was the presence of a second crewman, a gunner. The reasons this decision was made was probably economics, reducing weight and the need for extra cockpit systems, in terms of the need to train a second crewman and the risk of losing two crewman rather then only one if shot down.



Rotors:
The only complaint here seems to be in regard to the rotor head, some(2) have complained that due to the semi-rigid rotor head it is unable to do extreme negative-g manoeuvres. However the need of the Shahed-285 to do negative-g’s is probably very limited if at all and the need for simplicity and a familiar system probably outweighs.
The second question with regard to the rotor-blades is the question whether they are composite or not. The advantage being increased survivability and reduced noise as well as being an important indicator of other technical prowess. Its equally likely one way or another, on one hand the rotor-head appears unchanged so there is at least some reason to believe the blades would also be unchanged, on the other hand, HESA has a history of producing composite blades for its aircraft.(3)

Fuselage:
The fuselage represents the greatest departure from the original 206 model. It has been converted from a two person side-by-side crew to a single-person cockpit reducing the target profile drastically, by about a third.
The second changed aspect is the removal of the smooth, curved lines, in exchange for hard angled panels. This could be an attempt to introduce an element of stealth into the design, if it were however the reduction in RCS would be overwhelmed by the other non-stealth features like the two-rotor blades, tail, skids, and weaponry.
The final change is how the cockpit fits into the layout; previously it had a very prominent canopy that extended the pilot far beyond the fuselage body. In the 285 the very opposite has been done, recessing the pilot far into the fuselage and extending the body around the cockpit. While this may have the added bonus of increasing protection and reducing the overall size, the reduction in vision outweighs the gain, the pilot now has no vision above the helicopter, and reduced field-of-view to the front and on the sides. The only conceivable justification is to make it even cheaper because the canopy now requires little more then three sheets of glass set in frames, but when you consider that the cost cannot be that much and that the skill is not of question (see the Panha 2091 accomplishments), it still seems a ridiculous choice.

Compare the two versions of the helicopter, first is the overland while the second is the naval



Cockpit and Sensors:
This is the first place that the ‘naval’ and the ‘overland’ version differs. The overland helicopter seems to be nearly the same as the civilian version with the only difference being a new joystick and a HUD that are networked to the weapons systems. There is also the addition of a few miscellaneous LCD/TV screens on the left side of the cockpit that are likely to be hooked up to GPS systems or the Hasib radar system. Another major complaint is that this version lacks any sensors, optics, or any form of targeting devices making its role as a recon helicopter useless. Granted, in the pictures with it shown on the tarmac or on the PressTV footage it is lacking in optics, however on the IRINN version it is shown with the same sensor ball that adorns the newest version of the IRIAA AH-1 upgrades, in this case it is positioned above the cockpit forward and below of the rotorhead.(4)
However the naval attack version is radically different, it has a full glass cockpit. In order to fire the Kowsar(C-701R) the search radome seen in the nose most likely contains a search radar of unknown identity. The Hasib radar usually found on Iranian helicopters is ruled out because of its short range compared to the range of the Kowsar. Since the C-701R is a fire-and-forget missile there wouldn’t be a need for the radar to maintain a constant lock on the target.

Compare these pictures of the cockpits
First is a far-away shot of the overland, second is a closeup and the third is a view of the naval version.




Here is a view of the camera/sensor ball, notice it is the same as seen on the Cobra's.


Weapons:
First is the overland version. It is equipped with two 70 mm rocket pods, giving it a total of 14 rockets. Warheads available include HE, HEAT and flechettes, also possibly illumination and smoke but information about the type in Irans inventory is lacking. Targeting is through a cockpit mounted HUD. Under the nose is a heavy machine gun, probably a 12.7 mm. Some have observed that the lack of a dedicated gunner would make it near impossible to use the gun turret. It is my opinion that it functions in the same way as other single-seat helicopters like the Ka-50, that is, it’s a stationary gun pod that is aimed by rotating the entire helicopter body. Aiming would be achieved using the same HUD used for the rockets.
Next is the naval-attack version. This lacks the machine gun mount, replacing it with a radar and the rockets are replaced by upgraded variants of the Kowsar/C-701 anti-ship missiles. Air-launch capability indicates they belong to the C-701R/Kowsar 2 family as the land-launched variant lacks the radar-seeking head and fire-and-forget mode. Although as an annendum I have to say its unclear whether the C-701R/Kowsar 2 is exclusively used on air-platforms, it is entirely possible that they are replacing the generation one missiles originally designed.

Footnotes
(1)Corporate Espionage Case of Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad. The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies. Collected sources from 2007-2009 http://www.ciacademy.com/spycase/ecoesp/KHOSHNEVISRAD_Hossein_Ali.html
(2)Iranian attack helicopter 'Shahed 285' Military Photos 5/24/09 http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showpost.php?p=4150884&postcount=85
(3)HESA Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company Global Security 2/13/09 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/hesa.htm
(4)Islamic Republic of Iran News Network http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY8jWFVct_

And here are the rest of the pic's commonly available of the Shahed 285

I'm really happy with this new helicopter, in '08 and '09 Iran is releasing more on and more and more new equipments which are not direct copies of existing ones, this shows that there is real improvement in the Iranian industry.
The 2000s have been great years for the Iranian Military Industry, let's hope the 2010s will be even better.

What this article does not refer to is the Helmet. The Shahed 285 pilot helmet is somehow lnked to the avionics, though unknown. There was a clip showing a helmet activated machine gun control. Though it seems unlikely here since the gun is stationary. Yet, the helmet is obviously different and it is kept in the Cockpit, which is normally not so. I am assuming it is left there since it is attached to the cockpit with wiring.

Both these helicopters have a long way to go to replace 2091. Like other new projects, they are prototypes and thus will take another four to five years to mature or abandoned altogether due to many possible reasons such as lack of more powerful engines and a limited Hub/rotors.


catsoo

What this article does not refer to is the Helmet. The Shahed 285 pilot helmet is somehow lnked to the avionics, though unknown. There was a clip showing a helmet activated machine gun control. Though it seems unlikely here since the gun is stationary. Yet, the helmet is obviously different and it is kept in the Cockpit, which is normally not so.

Do you have that clip?

This has been my hypothesis since people first raised the question of how to control the MG turret, of course i hadn't seen any proof for this beyond the few pictures of a TV camera hooked up to a sensor ball and possibly a HMD in an unrelated case (i mention it here near the end: http://thearkenstone.blogspot.com/2009/02/panha-2091.html )

Alternate explanation beingt that its a stationary gun pod like in the KA-50/52.

Ayyash,

You are right to think that Shahed 285 helicopter MG is stationary for sure. However, as the link you provided shows, the technology exists to make the MG helmet controlled. But I am not so sure if that will be possible for a single seat attack helicopter. That is too much overloading for the pilot.


Catsoo

is shaheed 285 able to carry toophan can we massproduce shaheed 285 despite it has rols roys engine

The thing with the Rolls Royce 250 is that there have been tens (if not hundred) of thousands of engines built over the last 40 years so Im sure it wouldnt be hard to find a supply abroad and smuggle them in...also its a british engine its possible Iran could acquire a few engine for "civilian" uses...last time I checked UK doesnt have a great deal of sanctions against Iran (at least nothing like US sanctions) not to mention I wouldnt be surprised if Iran was working on R&D the RR 250 simply because its a very useful turboshaft engine..

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Just ignore him, he has already been banned once on his first account called "arminkaza" (reply #10 of this thread).

come on man if you rad all the comments we were talking about the engines

yes iran could reverse engneer or even design new parts but if it was gonna take a fast and cheap way buying is way to go

^^^you got any sources for those claims?

alright, so where is this prototype, any video, any pictures?