MH-6 Little Bird

History
A highly modified version of the McDonnell Douglas 530 series commercial helicopter, the AH-6J is a gas-turbine-engined, dual-control, light attack helicopter, which is primarily employed in close air support of ground troops, target destruction raids, and armed escort of other aircraft. The AH-6J is usually flown by two pilots on most overland flights, but the two pilots become mandatory for over water operations.

The AH-6J is capable of mounting a variety of weapons systems, including the M134 Minigun, M261 7-round and M260 19-round rocket launchers for 2.75in rockets, a maximum of 4 Hellfire missiles, and a .50 cal. machine gun. However, the normal aircraft configuration consists of two Miniguns with 1500 to 2000 rounds per gun, and two seven round 2.75in rocket pods.

The MH-6J is basically the same to the AH-6J, but is modified to transport up to eight people, the two crew, plus six combat troops sitting on the sills facing outwards. In this configuration it is capable of conducting overt and covert infiltrations, exfiltrations, and combat assaults over a wide variety of terrain and environmental conditions.

The aircraft can be rapidly configured for fast-rope and STABO operations, while special racks can be fitted to enable two motorcycles to be carried.

Some aircraft come equipped with FLIR or Forward Looking Infrared Radar, a passive system that provides an infrared image of terrain features and ground or airborne objects of interest.

Specifications
The Little Birds power plant is a Rolls-Royce/Allison 250-C30 turbo shaft.

Its max speed is 150mph in level flight, and its range with a normal load is 300 miles, it can stay airborne for two hours and thirty minutes while carrying a max load of 1,216lb externally.