MH-6 Little Bird



"Get past that Little Bird before its guns spin up!"

- Captain John Price in Endgame

A Little Bird is a single-engine light helicopter used for special operations aviation in the United States Army. There are two variants, the AH-6 (attack) and the MH-6 (transport). Both variants are seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, both during the singleplayer campaign and in multiplayer.

History
A highly modified version of the McDonnell Douglas 530 series commercial helicopter, the AH-6 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-6 is usually flown by two pilots on most overland flights, but the two pilots become mandatory for over water operations.

The AH-6 is capable of mounting a variety of weapons systems, including the M134 Minigun, M261 7-round and M260 19-round rocket launchers for 2.75 inch 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-6 is basically the same to the AH-6, 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.

Call of Duty
These helicopters are seen in the first two Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 gameplay teasers. In the teasers, the helicopters carry a couple of men like normal helicopters and head towards a castle. Also on the water, there is ice on it so this could be set in the waters of Russia or another icy region of the world. In game you ride beside Soap during a raid on "The Gulag" and provide support by taking out enemy soldiers. An AH-6 helps out by attacking AA positions. You are then inserted onto the ground via the MH-6 to begin the raid. Little Birds are also seen in the campaign being piloted by Nikolai in Endgame and by Marines in The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday.

In multiplayer mode, the MH-6 Little Bird is available to drop in the Care Package Killstreak. The MH-6 flies very quickly, and slows down only when it is over the red Care Package smoke, making it extremely hard to shoot down. However, if you do shoot it down, you receive no experience points from it.

The Little Bird appears in the following missions as support:
 * Team Player
 * The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday
 * The Gulag
 * Of Their Own Accord
 * Loose Ends
 * Endgame



Enemy Little Birds are seen in the following missions:
 * No Russian
 * The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday
 * Loose Ends
 * The Enemy Of My Enemy
 * Just Like Old Times
 * Endgame

Known Little Birds

 * Hornet Two-One
 * Hornet Two-Two
 * Hornet Two-Three
 * Dagger Two-Two
 * Nikolai's Little Bird

Trivia

 * In The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday, it is possible to see the pilots of the Little Bird. They appear to be recycled models of Lietenant Volker and Captain 'Deadly' Pelayo of the USMC from CoD4
 * Three of these helicopters can be seen in the vehicle section of the Museum in Modern Warfare 2.
 * When shot down in the mission The Enemy Of My Enemy, the pilots will disappear.
 * This helicopter brings both types of single crate air-drops (Care Package and Sentry Gun). It is possible to shoot it down as it comes but it is highly difficult to get before the crate drops.
 * Soundfiles can be found, that state the use of a Little Bird as a (possibly) separate killstreak, or just another name for the Care Package killstreak. Here is for the Spetsnaz (At 1:59 in) and here for the Militia (At 1:41 in)