This seems like a counter-measure that would be easy to counter. You simply fire your RPGs in a timed and regular series until your target exhausts his complement of rocket-nets.
It could still raise the survivability of the helicopter.
Right?
Enough shots would bring it down naturally. A lot of RPGs hits come from “cheap shots” — one or two 3rd world dirtbags who carry only their rifles on them and maybe a bigger weapon (like an RPG launcher).
“This seems like a counter-measure that would be easy to counter. You simply fire your RPGs in a timed and regular series until your target exhausts his complement of rocket-nets.”
Well, as a former helicopter pilot, I would say I, personally, would not be hanging around long enough to run out (or I would turn and let fly Hell and damnation, depending on my mood, mission, and load).
And when you bring down the first chopper equipped with these, you now have a new toy to shoot at the choppers.
Kelvlar Net’s into the intake or tail rotor anyone.
Yes just in time for the ‘copter to turn the guns on them
However, you have the right idea. The RPG grenade, if it fails to hit a target, is set up to detonate at a certain distance. The terrorists have gotten a lot of experience at launching RPGs to take advantage of that.
I’m waiting for some Commie genius to come up with a proximity fused RPG to make our chopper pilots even MORE miserable.
... proving yet again that if the counter-measure to your counter-measure is cheaper then the entire exercise is a waste of time. 6 choppers out of 61 downed by enemy fire? How many were due to RPG's alone? 3? 4? Are we sure that we want to put our efforts into countering a dumb weapon with a low hit rate and a lower PK?
Surely the helio is not going to stay there.
If that’s the case, it’d be easy enough to get a fix on the launchers position and exterminate them.
If it were that easy to get an RPG shot at a helicopter, do you think we would still have helicopters left flying the missions? Certainly the issue with this system is how to avoid using up your "nine lives;" the issue on the other side is deploying RPG launchers ready to shoot at the time the helicopter is vulnerable. And that is an issue because our tactics, both of the helicopter pilots and our ground troops, are designed to make it so. You will line up your row of RPGs - and the helicopter will fly somewhere else because the pilot knows better than to be too predictable.IMHO.