HESA Shahed 285 ( fa, شاهد ۲۸۵) is a light attack/reconnaissance helicopter developed in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It was unveiled on . It is being produced in two versions: a light attack/recon version and a maritime patrol/anti-ship version.

Design and development

The Shahed 285 is based on the composite ''

Shahed-278 The HESA Shahed 278 ( fa, شاهد ۲۷۸) is an Iranian-made light utility helicopter. Iran's ''Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center'' plans to produce several variants of ''Shahed'', according to sources. The first platform was the ''Sh ...

'', which is a relatively light helicopter with empty weight, derived from the

Bell 206 The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter progra ...

Jetranger. Compared to the American

OH-58 Kiowa The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine single-rotor military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. It was produced by the American manufacturer Bell Helicopter and is closely related to the Model 206A ...

that retains the airframe of the Bell 206, the Shahed 285 is a single-seater with a narrower fuselage, but retains the tail and powerplant / rotor structures, and is intended for military use. Although designed by the

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

, this helicopter is scheduled to be produced by HESA. Shahed 285 comes in two variants. AH-85A which is a land based variant and AH-85C which is a naval one. AH-85A is armed with 14 rockets and a PKMT light machine gun either on a rotatable turret or on a static mount, or an NSV heavy machine gun in an underfuselage gondola (latest version). It also uses an EO/IR camera on its top. Instead of the machine gun, AH-85C has a search and track radar on its chin to find and track enemy ships. Its range is estimated between . It either uses two Kowsar or eight

Sadid-1 The Sadid-1 (also known as the Sadid-361, the Fat'h 362, and the Sadid-342) is an Iranian TV-guided anti-tank missile derived from Iran's Toophan missiles. It is described by multiple sources as similar in design to the Israeli Spike-ER missile ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

s. To fire these missiles, AH-85C relies on a

Multi-function display A multifunction display (MFD) is a small-screen ( CRT or LCD) surrounded by multiple soft keys (configurable buttons) that can be used to display information to the user in numerous configurable ways. MFDs originated in aviation, first in mil ...

in its cockpit.

Specifications (Shahed 285 / AH-58A)

References

External links

Military Factory
{{Weapons of Iran 2000s Iranian helicopters 2000s Iranian military utility aircraft Shahed 285 Military helicopters

Design and development

Specifications (Shahed 285 / AH-58A)

See also

References

External links