Okratovsk-5

Light Attack Helicopter

Fully Fly-By-Wire
Equipped with Simpleplane's second ever SACLOS missile!

Disclaimer #1: I DO NOT take credit for the design of the original airframe; the airframe was originally designed by Monarchii, and I was permitted to modify and publish the helicopter. Click the successor link to go check out the original build.
Disclaimer #2: I also DO NOT take credit for the XM338 missile body mounted on this heli. It was a joint project between me and @JuanNotAnAlt, where he made the missile body and I was tasked to make it flyable. He will be publishing the missile sometime after the release of this heli.
Disclaimer #3: The funky trees weapons mounted are, as usual, not guided, or assisted, and do not contain gyros and default missiles.

Basic Helicopter Controls

• Pitch Roll Yaw all automatically controlled by Fly-By-Wire (FBW) system
• Throttle: Collective
• Activate 1: Sart engine
• Activate 2 & VTOL: Auto altitude control; by default holds your current altitude to the best of the FBW's ability. Use VTOL to either climb or decent by a maximum of +- 25m/s
• Activate 4: Lock targeting pod on selected target
• Activate 7: Auto Hover; will attempt to stop all lateral motion of the heli. Recommended to use in combination with Activate 2. Do not activate at steep roll angles!!!

Weapons Systems Controls

To fire the XM338 Air-To-Air missiles:
- Flip the Master-Arm switch
- Flip the Fire-Control Mode switch from A/G to A/A
- Select an air target, lead the target, and press FireWeapons button, or left Alt on the keyboard.
- Mobile users: even though the FireWeapons button does not light up, you can still press the button to activate the input!!!!

To fire the AGM-114K HellFires
- Flip the Master-Arm switch
- Make sure the Fire-Control Mode switch is flipped to A/G
- Hit the Laser button
- Optional: hit Activate 4 or hit the Track button on the counsel
- Orientate your helicopter to the rough direction of the target
- Go into the targeting pod view, hit FireWeapons when ready to fire
- The missile goes where you point the camera. However, it is not perfect at doing so! You should continuously make small adjustments to keep the red tracer on top of your intended target until impact.

Tips
- Use Activate 2 and Activate 7 to steadily hover in place before taking the shot
- Point your helicopter in the direction of your target so the missile doesn't have to maneuver as much off the rail to get into the center of the camera
- Even though Activate 4 will automatically follow a selected target, the missile is not very good at tracking moving things by itself. This is why I have allowed the camera to be moved and adjusted by small amounts when you have locked a target
- I recommend practicing hitting a ship before trying to hit conveys, as this thing takes some skill to use effectively.
- Try not to fire the missile facing direct north (0 or 360 degrees heading)!!! Reasoning explained in Problems and Limitation section.

Statistics

Okratovsk-5

Empty Weight: 2957 lbs
MTOW: 6000 lbs
Max Speed: 200 mph
Cruising Speed: 175 mph
Max Range: 480 miles
Max Climb Rate: 12,000 ft/min
Max Altitude: 28,000 ft
Max Occupancy: 4 people

XM338

Seeker Type: Thermal Imaging All-Aspect Infra-Red
Max Range: 15 km
Max Speed: Mach 2
Max G: 20Gs
Guidance Time: 40 seconds
Weight: 36 lbs
IRCCM
Smokeless Motor

AGM-114K Hellfire

Guidance Type: Semi-Active Laser Homing
Max Range: 8 km
Max Speed: Mach 1.2
Guidance Time: 40 seconds
Weight: 108 lbs
Smokeless Motor

Description

Okratovsk 5
Being very impressed with the performance and the handling of the Okratovsk-3, Ku Aerospace decided to acquire the helicopter to start its new helicopter devision, researching helicopter flight dynamics, control, design, and implementation of its signature funky-trees weapon systems. First, the helicopter's engines were re-tuned to direct more power to the tail rotor to increase the effectiveness of tail control, while also increasing the main rotor RPM to provide more lift than the original. A new engine intake was also created to optimize the engine's new performance and to make it more survivable in adverse environmental conditions that it's expected to operate in. A brand new Fly-By-Wire (FBW) control system was implemented for all controls of the helicopter, making it the first vehicle in Ku Aerospace's inventory to have such a feature. Instead of direct inputs to the rotor by the pilot, the FBW system takes the pilot's inputs and adjusts the rotors automatically to maneuver the aircraft most desirably and stably possible, and any unwanted motion is corrected by the FBW system. As a result, the helicopter is extremely easy to handle, while still achieving its maximum performance. A new autopilot system was also implemented in the form of Auto-Altitude control and Auto-Hover to aid the pilot in take-off, landing, cruise, and combat scenarios. The Auto-Hover system is capable of bringing the helicopter to a standstill midair and maintaining a hover with motion not exceeding 0.5 m/s.

The Okratovsk-5 also received a full complement of combat and fire-control systems. It is mounted with Missile-Approach-Warning system (MAW), Radar-Warning-Receivers (RWR), and Counter Measures. A pair of wings were fitted to the center of the fuselage to provide aerodynamic stability and to mount weapons. The helicopter also received the brand-new Sauron I targeting pod, enabling it to use guided munitions and increase pilot situational awareness.

To complement its newfound combat abilities, the cockpit, and cabin also received a massive overhaul. The pilot and co-pilot both received a HUD, a new MFD and RWR display were added to the instrument panel, in addition to other fire control systems, and a fire suppression system. The co-pilot has an additional MFD to complement the Sauron I targeting pod to direct guided munitions.

XM338
The XM338 is a tube-launched self-defense Air-To-Air missile adapted from an experimental MANPAD, designated XM334. Very little was changed between the MANPAD version of the missile, notably the shortened lofting sequence, as the missile is likely to not be fired from the ground and thus it was deemed unnecessary. It is equipped with the most advanced Infra-Red seeker to date, where its thermal imaging feature not only allows the missile to acquire targets at long ranges, at all aspects, but also be able to filter any countermeasures.

AGM-114K Hellfire
Ku Aerospace acquired the rights to manufacture the Hellfire under license, and the Okratovsk-5 was chosen to be its first operator. The AGM-114 Hellfire is the laser-guided precision munition of choice for the U.S. military and its allies, being widely used on Helicopters and Drones. Its powerful warhead, advanced guidance system, and most importantly, low collateral damage potential, make it very appealing for precision strikes against tanks, structures, or even personnel.

Problems and Limitations

• I am very aware that the Hellfire missile is not a SACLOS-guided missile in real life!!! I chose to make it this way because it is overall more challenging, and it would be much more reliable when not locking a target. (see notes section for more clarification)
• The Hellfire missile (and any object in Simpleplanes) likes to ignore collision with the terrain when traveling at high speeds, and your missile will simply not detonate or fly through the ground sometimes.
• The Hellfire missile does not like to turn past 0 or 360 degrees for some reason, meaning that if you launch the missile at heading 5 degrees and try to guide the missile to 355 degrees, instead of the missile turning left, it will turn right and loose track. Try not to fire the missile facing north.
• Funky-trees missiles have a hard time orientating themselves when it is pointed straight up or down. You may encounter this issue with the XM338 missile.
• The FBW system has a hard time keeping the helicopter level at high speeds (>180 mph IAS)
• The Auto-Hover system (Activate 7) is not very good at stopping the helicopter from flying side-to-side. It is recommended that you reduce speed to below 60mph and make sure you are flying straight before turning on the Auto-Hover.
• Again, do not enable Auto Hover at any significant roll angle!!!

Notes

I am almost done yapping...

So the reason why I chose to make the Hellfire a SACLOS missile comes from the idea that I wanted to make an Air-To-Ground missile that can hit anything even without locking it. In my typical funky-trees weapons, to put it simply, guides to a point on the map defined by Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude. The game gives me this information (kind of, but in spherical coordinates) about the target when I select a target. However, if I don't have a target selected, I can use a camera to point to where I want the missile to end up right? Not really. I can use the heading of the camera to find the Longitude and Latitude of a target (kind of), but without knowing what the altitude of the target is, or the distance of the target, I can only assume that the target is at sea level. Currently, there is no tangible way in Simpleplanes to range-find a point on the map if it is not an AI target of sorts. So for example, if you are flying around and want to hit a specific windmill on the Maywar Islands and you use a targeting pod, even though you are looking directly at the windmill, the point at which the targeting pod is actually looking is the ground way below the windmills on the sea; unless you know what altitude the windmill is sitting at and manually adjust it before firing. Since a typical funky-trees weapon does not fly in a straight line to the target, there is almost no chance you are ever going to hit that windmill.

And this is why I thought it would be more useful if I made the Hellfire SACLOS guided since you can get around the constraints of the map and hit anything on the map just by looking at it. If you have read this I hope you understand my reasoning and that you may go touch grass outside it's summer it's nice out stop being stuck at home I'm gonna go for a run now.

Credits

@Monarchii for the Okratovsk-3 airframe
@JuanNotAnAlt for the XM338 missile body
@dhtv587 for the HUD
@SARACONIKaviationIndustry for the 1 part PFD
@FlyingPatriot for the Variterra Archipelago used in my screenshots
@MisterT for the Kumamatanga Archipelago used in my screenshots and an excellent testing ground for my weapons
@1342791782 for the Delta Force map used in my screenshots and also an excellent testing ground for my weapons

Please report any bugs in the comment section or contact me on discord @kuatta4

Update: 5/14/2024 20:03 EST, fixed buttons attached to doors.