October 16, 2008:
Boeing is offering a gunship version of the
OH-6 helicopter to foreign customers. SOCOM has long used the MH-6 (and the
armed version, the AH-6) version of the 1960s era OH-6. Developed in the early
1980s, the AH-6, or "Little Bird" is a 1.4 ton helicopter with a crew
of two, top speed of 280 kilometers an hour. Average sortie is 3-3.5 hours. It
can be armed with two 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine-gun pods, or two 70mm rocket
pods (seven or 12 rockets each) or four Hellfire missiles. Without weapons, the
MH-6 can carry six troops (usually Special Forces operators) externally. The
new AH-6 would also carry a day night targeting system, including a laser
designator.
Later versions of the AH-6 were based
on a similar helicopter, the MD-500. The new AH-6 enables nations to have
helicopter gunship capability at a cost of only about six million dollars per aircraft.
That's about a tenth of what a AH-64D would cost, and a third of what a Russian
gunship goes for it. Little Bird could be a bid deal on the international
market.