NorthStar Turns Commercial Helo into Gunship
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — U.S. helicopter pilots and maintainers couldn't stop gawking at NorthStar Aviation's new light-attack helicopter, the 407MRH, at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual conference. "This is amazing," Spc. Jessica Sanford, 26, an unmanned aerial vehicle maintainer who previously worked on OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter, gushed on Tuesday at the event, known as Quad A. The Abu Dhabi-based company took a standard commercial Bell 407GH helicopter and transformed it with state-of-the-art sensors, electronic avionics and weapons systems to create the 407MRH, according to Adam Gunn, the company's technical director.
The platform can perform any number of missions — from light attack to close air support to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — thanks in part to the FLIR 260HLD electro- optical/infrared sensor beneath the nose, a four-station weapons set-up beneath the wings and an electronic mission-management system in the cockpit. It also features night-vision compatible interior and exterior lighting, meaning those without night-vision goggles can't see the illumination. The price tag: $9 million. "Not everybody has $80 million to buy an Apache," Gunn explained.
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