Military AI Works • UH-72A Lakota
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UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 06:45
by John Young
Time to reveal my current project - the American Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota. It was suggested by Brent as a subject that’s been overlooked, but would provide an interesting component of a new US Army helicopter project he is working on.

The aircraft is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145 twin engine helicopter. It was selected as the winner of the United States Army's Light Utility Helicopter program in June 2006 with a production requirement of 345 aircraft to replace ageing UH-1H/V and OH-58A/C helicopters in the US Army and Army National Guard units. 5 aircraft are also in use by the United States Naval Test Pilots School for crew training, designated as H-72 Lakota’s. 6 aircraft are used by the Royal Thai Army with a further 9 on order.

I’m treating the project as an aircraft only package, much like the Black Hawk, so that other designers can hopefully incorporate it into their own future projects like Brent.

At the moment, the 5 configurations I have produced all have the same external equipment, but this will change after the LODs have been produced. The aircraft in the screen shots are all FS9 models, but I will be producing FSX versions as well:

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This is the regular drab painted example:

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A variation on this is the Army Air Ambulance with 2 stretchers in the back:

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Two interesting paint schemes are on the 2 and 3-tone camo “Aggressor” examples:

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The 5th example is the USNTPS H-72, 5 of which are based at Patuxant River:

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I don’t know yet if Hartwig would like to incorporate them as an update to his Pax River package, but I hope he will.

In addition to the clam-shell doors animation, all the aircraft feature hover-taxi combined with a vertical lift on the runway:

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I’m also intending to provide a generic EC145 model and paint kits for this and all the military examples in the package. Next job though is to make the LODs, configure the different models with the right external equipment, duplicate the aircraft up and make the FSX versions.

In the meantime, I’m sure Brent will reveal more about what he’s doing with the aircraft in his US Army Rotary Wing Aviation topic.

John

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 08:03
by TheFoufure
Great !!!!!!

Can we expect a civil version for French Securité Civile and French Gendarmerie ?

Thanks a lot for your great work john.


(I always hope for the Agusta A-109 ;-) )

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 08:51
by hermit
:D

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 09:10
by John Young
TheFoufure wrote: 06 May 2017, 08:03
Can we expect a civil version for French Securité Civile and French Gendarmerie ?

I can do the model and paints for the French Securité Civile and French Gendarmerie EC145 examples if you would care to provide the AFCADS and flight plans for them as a separate package. I don't know how many aircraft are involved, but I would imagine that the aircraft are well dispersed, so there could be a lot of AFCADs required.

John

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 09:50
by TheFoufure
Main operating base for Securite Civile is Nimes Garon. But lot of heli are all around France. I'll have a look on my Scramble book to see where there are based. (I've all serials for Securite Civile and Gendramerie).

I'll look at this tomorrow and send it to you (The Securité Civile is a little different. the nose of the heli is différent).

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 10:37
by Joseph29
Wow they look pretty cool!!

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 14:23
by Makadocias
Awesome!!!

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 16:18
by Tranquil
Fantastic John, if a civil version appears i would gladly cover UK Emergency services! :)

Much thanks

Mark

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 16:28
by MIKE JG
The floodgates on helicopter models may be about to open!

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 16:40
by John Young
I'll send you the civil model when done Mark and you can apply your paint magic.

Yes you could be right Mike. With hover-taxi now cracked, it opens up a few possibilities. I've also just applied the xml technique that Sean and Kevin worked up to spin the rotors 10 minutes before departure, thus preventing the spin and the hover-taxi lift at the same time. It works a treat in FS9, but the spin has to remain with the lift in FSX unfortunately because there is no Nav light timing trigger in that sim version.

John

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 17:17
by gsnde
John, do you know if the nav light trigger has reappeared in P3D?

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 17:56
by John Young
I don't know Martin since I don't have P3D. For those that do, the simple check is: do the Nav lights come on 15 minutes before departure or at departure. Perhaps someone could tell us.

John

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 18:08
by gsnde
I will check, John.

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 18:21
by Tranquil
John Young wrote: 06 May 2017, 16:40 I'll send you the civil model when done Mark and you can apply your paint magic.
Super John, thank you! really looking forward to it like all your models!

Much thanks

Mark

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 18:23
by Dave Waffler
Sweet!!!!

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 19:05
by proximo
Great job!!!!!

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 19:50
by miljan
Thank you John ,
Since Serbia has ordered nine EC145M I am thinking will it ever be made and then bammm , here you go.
How challenging will it be to make fenestron version as well?

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 20:47
by John Young
I think I can make the fenestron tail Miljan, because deleting the outer fins and the Hstab will create space on the texture sheet for it. However the Serbian EC145Ms have only just been ordered and I assume won't be delivered for some time yet.

It might be better to pick another user with the EC145 T-2 in service now and use the paint kit to create the Serbian examples later. Does anyone have a suggestion for an in-service T2 example that is likely to have a good take up with MAIW users generally please?

John

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 06 May 2017, 22:39
by Reggie
Hi John,
You're very busy and about to make AI history, but I was wondering if someone was working on the 206 Jetranger? I'm not making a request, just seeing if that is on the board somewhere. Several of us would like to see NAS Whiting South come alive at some point now that "skids" can work.

I was a beta tester for you on the H-60. If you need a beta tester on some of the new stuff, I'd be glad to help out.

Regards,
Reggie

Re: UH-72A Lakota

Posted: 07 May 2017, 03:30
by miljan
I absolutely agree John.
So far we have Germany with H145M and Thailand H145T2 , both are having fenestron.

Cheers