Chapter 175: Just because you can

Armed helicopters, flying at treetop height, rely on ultra-low-altitude flight to reduce the chance of being detected; if detected, not to mention Stingers, even the most basic RPG could shoot it down—see *Black Hawk Down*.

As for the targeting device on an armed helicopter, the installation position is crucial; the higher it is, the lower the exposure risk.

Generally, the nose is the most suitable position; many helicopters mount radar there, much like fighters, but… that means half the helicopter's body would be exposed.

Later, China's Wuzhi-9 placed the targeting device above the cabin, i. e., the pilot's head position, where a protruding cylinder houses the aiming device.

This position is also a choice for many armed helicopters; the fuselage need not be exposed, only the rotor.

But this is not the best!

Later, the AH-64D, the ultimate variant of the Apache, has a large pumpkin-like protrusion above the rotor—that is the millimeter-wave radar used by helicopters; installed there, even the rotor need not be exposed, making it the optimal position.

But at the same time, this is also the most difficult.

At that moment, hearing Qin Miao's words, Qiewaliye was taken aback.

What I said was not the installation position, but the difficulty of this thing.

You should know that helicopters are constantly moving, and when aiming at a target, a self-stabilizing platform is needed—this is the biggest difference from ground-based anti-tank missile launchers; Easterners have no armed helicopters, so they certainly lack these devices.

And France has already produced the Gazelle armed helicopter, so they have this equipment; he wants to tell that Saudi person that this armed helicopter should be left to France to handle.

But… since Qin Miao asked, Qiewaliye did not hesitate.

"Mounting the airborne radar in the nose and the optical sight above the cockpit—these are all optimal…"

"No, no, your vision is too backward!" Qin Miao interrupted him, shaking his head and sighing.

I was supposed to show off, but Qin Miao ended up showing off instead!

Qiewaliye suppressed his dissatisfaction and asked, "Then where do you say it should be installed?"

"Of course, there!"

Qin Miao pointed to the rotor area.

"Where?"

"Above the rotor!"

The French were first stunned, then they all laughed.

"Haha, haha…"

This is definitely the funniest thing they've ever heard.

The helicopter's rotor system is complex; this set of rotors not only needs to spin, but the blade pitch must also change—i. e., the twist angle of the blades must vary—requiring the addition of a collective pitch control mechanism.

At the same time, the entire rotor disk must change; when flying forward, the disk must tilt forward as a whole, which can be understood as a teeter-totter, and a tilting mechanism must also be installed there.

These devices make the helicopter's rotor system enormously complex!

Now, this Easterner before us actually says we should also install a radar on top of the rotor.

How would that radar be installed?

The rotor shaft would have to be made hollow, with a fixed support rod inside; moreover, the radar would not only need to be supported on top of the rotor, it would also need to function properly, requiring various cables!

The workload and complexity would drive any experienced engineer crazy!

What a joke!

"Mr. Qin, your idea is indeed innovative, but… sorry, in our professionals' view, this is fundamentally impossible to achieve."

"Is that so? Why?"

"Because the propeller system is very complex, wanting to insert a fixed rod in the middle to support the radar—from an engineering perspective, it's fundamentally impossible to achieve; this is the kind of idea only a layperson would have…"

The staff from Ha Gong Da and the Easterners from Factory 112 now turned solemn; these French people are too shameless, trying to steal our business and slapping us in the face to our face?

"Is that so? When they first stuck a machine gun into the propeller shaft, I don't know how many professionals like you objected?"

Qiewaliye instantly fell silent.

When aircraft were first born, propellers were mounted at the front; in the multi-wing era, machine guns were placed above to avoid the propeller, but what about monoplanes?

No matter how you mount the machine gun, it has to go through the propeller disk!

Mounting on the wing tip is possible, but… that would again cause huge aiming problems.

Then a genius design emerged: the firing interrupter, which stops the machine gun from firing when the propeller comes around; back then propellers were usually two-bladed, so it paused only half a turn, which didn't affect air combat.

As engine power increased, propeller blades became three-bladed, four-bladed, and then the firing interrupter would frequently pause shooting, which could indeed hinder the fighter.

Thus, the machine gun was placed inside the shaft; the bullets flying out from the propeller hub share the same axis as the aircraft, making aiming very convenient, and later the machine gun was replaced by a cannon, with even more heaven-defying power!

In the propeller era, you could put a machine gun in the shaft; why can't we now stuff a radar in there?

"Often, so-called professionals are just self-aggrandizing; they don't use their brains, and for anything new not proposed by them, they immediately reject it instead of trying to solve it, and they even strive to stop others from solving problems, because that would expose their own inadequacy."

Qin Miao looked at the French: "Mr. Qiewaliye, just because you can't do it doesn't mean we Easterners can't—what's so funny about that?"

The Frenchmen's faces darkened.

Although everyone was a bit worried that offending the French would affect the Dolphin helicopter's localization project, the professors at Ha Gong Da were even more concerned—we had agreed to pull the French into joint research; now you've provoked them like this, can we still cooperate?

But… Qin Miao seems not to care at all about the Frenchmen's feelings; now his client is that Saudi person, and he just needs to keep that Saudi person happy.

"Moreover, we want to provide our friends with the most advanced armed helicopter; this would be more concealed, meaning the pilot would be safer! Our rear‑area designers should constantly think about the lives of frontline soldiers."

"Well said!" Sultan nodded approvingly.

As for what that Saudi person cares about most, it's naturally their life! Any rich person wants to live a few more years to enjoy life, and that Saudi big spender especially cherishes his own life.

This line of reasoning exactly suits them!

Now, their last lingering doubt has been completely dispelled!