Can Hellfire missiles be mounted above the skids?

R

Radical

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I'm wondering why the old AH-1s, up to the AH-1W, don't carry any kind of guided weapons like the TOW or Hellfire in the inner pylon. Is it the lack of space? I also noticed that on the AH-1Z, the stub wings are enlarged substantially, to the point that a 4 pack of Hellfires on the inner pylon is vertically clear of the landing skids. This makes me a bit curious; do they not mount Hellfires over skids?
 
It can be done. This photo is labelled Bo105CBS, but it is a Bo105LS A-3 company demonstrator. Reasons to not mount the Hellfire directly over the skid could include jettison concerns, or loading concerns. This aircraft fired several Hellfires over its brief demo careeer.

bo105-cbs5an.jpg
 
RadicalDisco said:
I'm wondering why the old AH-1s, up to the AH-1W, don't carry any kind of guided weapons like the TOW or Hellfire in the inner pylon. Is it the lack of space? I also noticed that on the AH-1Z, the stub wings are enlarged substantially, to the point that a 4 pack of Hellfires on the inner pylon is vertically clear of the landing skids. This makes me a bit curious; do they not mount Hellfires over skids?
The reason for not having the missiles on the inboard pylons on Army AH-1S/E/F was to preclude gas ingestion from the rocket motors, which could cause engine surging. Likewise shooting more than a pair of rockets at a time while at a hover was also discouraged for the same reasons. In forward flight this was not as much of a problem. Also with the earlier wire guided missiles like TOW you did not want the wires near the fuselage where they might fly up into the control tubes of the rotor system.
 

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