Airbus Helicopters AS565 Panther

Airbus Helicopters AS565 Panther History

The Eurocopter AS565 "Panther" is nothing more than a medium-range, militarized, twin-engine, multi-role version of the original - and very successful - Aerospatiale AS365 "Dauphin". Aerospatiale has produced more than 800 military and civilian Dauphins, many of which are in service around the world today. In 1992, Toulouse, France-based Aerospatiale merged with EADS and its helicopter division merged with Daimler-Benz Aerospace to become "Eurocopter". Today, Eurocopter products reach a total of about 140 countries, and at the time of writing about 15 different countries use Panther in one form or another - including Brazil, China, France, Israel, South Korea, Great powers like Taiwan, the UK and the US, etc.

Unlike its Dauphin origins, the Panther introduces a paired engine design and an all-new rotor case that improves performance specifications and mission capabilities.

The panther maintains a sleek appearance from nose to tail. The cockpit is very forward in design and provides excellent visibility through the glass front hull. Two base crew members - the pilot and co-pilot - enter/leave the aircraft through a pair of hinged car-style doors along the sides of the front of the fuselage. The cabin is located directly behind the cockpit, and the interior layout is variable to meet the mission requirements of each customer.

Access to the cabin is via a swing door that pivots forward and a rear sliding door mounted on either side of the hull. The engine is mounted in the flight compartment and drives a four-bladed main rotor and a multi-bladed tail rotor mounted in the "Fenetron" shroud. While the latter is a more expensive alternative to the traditional exposed tail rotor seen on most other helicopters, it offers higher rotational speeds, basic protection from debris and enemy fire, and some noise-reduction properties.

The fuselage elegantly outlines the thick tailstock, which supports the outer vertical stabilizer, the ducted tail rotor and the larger main vertical stabilizer. The landing gear is fully retractable and consists of a pair of main gear legs and a front wheel leg.

The main legs are all single wheels, while the front legs have a pair of support wheels.

The base search and rescue cradle is powered by two Turbomeca Arriel 2C turboshaft engines, each delivering 851 shp. This gives the airframe a top speed of 190 mph and a ferry range of 514 miles. The helicopter's service ceiling remains below 20,000 feet.

In addition to rescuing people at sea or in other inaccessible areas, the Panther can also be used as a medical evacuation platform to transport the wounded. As a basic transport model, the Panther can also transport about ten combat readiness personnel for disembarkation and disembarkation operations.

The adaptability of the Panther airframe means it can be tailored to the operator's needs to fulfill a variety of armed and unarmed roles on the battlefield. Armed variants are equipped with machine guns, machine gun pods, cannon pods, unguided rocket pods, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. This type can also be equipped with torpedoes (plus sonar and search radar) for anti-ship/anti-submarine missions.

Such gunships have a tactical advantage when hunting land-based targets or naval ships due to their excellent hovering capabilities and dwell time. Of course, this makes them more vulnerable to enemy ground fire.

The original production brand of Panther became "SA365 K", itself based on the improved AS365 N2 of the Dauphin 2 series. The attack brands became AS565 AA and AS565 AB, based on the N2 and AS365 N3 respectively, the latter being a further improved Dauphin 2 mount. Anti-tank version - AS565 Ca - based on AS365 N2.

The anti-submarine versions became AS565 SA and AS565 SB based on N2 and N3 respectively. The primary Search and Rescue (SAR) variant is designated AS565 MB (N3 based) and has proven to be the most popular of the Panther series, it can be armed or unarmed, and plays a variety of sea-oriented roles in addition to the SAR.

Role. The basic commercial aircraft are the AS565 UA and AS565 UB, which differ by their origins at N2 and N3, respectively.

Brazil licensed the Panther produced for its Brazilian Army under the Helibras Products banner as the HM-1 "Panteras".

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes