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Sikorsky MH-53N Pave Low V, alias "Blackout"

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Diamondback:
[Author note: This is something I'm putting together for where the AI-controlled MH-53N reintroduces itself to a team it's worked with before, after many years away from them and a crapload of new modifications. It's a WIP for another board, so let me know what you think, though this is a technical walkaround rather than a backstory of its origin...]

The machine "looked" at the group, his green optical sensors stopping their scan and maintaining a steady focus. "Looking me in the 'eye' is probably the best place to start... the boom on my starboard side is my in-flight refueling probe--with it, as long as I have tanker support the only limit on how far I can fly is how long my engine oil lasts. If you were to look a little inboard and aft from it on my belly, you would see the imager head of a combined LITENING and RECCELITE reconnaissance and targeting system, just one of my many 'eyes'. The glowing green arrays under my cockpit windows are my primary optical sensors--when you want to look me in the eye, that's where you look. The bulge beneath them that looks like a fat lip is the majority of the Pave Low avionics suite that gives me my superior navigation capabilities, and the arrowhead-shaped lens is for my Electro-Optical Targeting System, a component lifted from JSF that gives me yet another 'eye' and a second laser designator that lets me strike multiple targets on one pass." 'Superior' was an understatement--you could drop a quarter in the middle of the Sahara Desert, and given a rough area to search in Blackout could find it from a standing start in his hangar. "And contrary to what Agent DiNozzo may THINK, there's no alien technology here... I'm ALL Home Team."

"The item that looks like a fat, stubby cigar is my primary radar antenna," the big lug continued. "The original Pave Lows used the ASQ-128 radar out of the F-111 high-speed low-level tactical bombers, but I've replaced it with an experimental unit combining the best features of the F-22, F-14, F-35 and F-15SE Silent Eagle. My radar has navigation, surface search, air search, surface targeting, and air targeting capabilities, all simultaneously, plus a LADAR array for those times when I want to see and not be seen--it's also part of a phase-cancellation system that provides the anti-radar component of my integrated full-spectrum cloaking suite, and a weapons system as well. Like its counterpart on the F-22, mine can fire an electromagnetic pulse attack that fries anything electronic. Below all that, you will find the barrels of four M2 .50-caliber heavy machine guns--these have been carefully tuned for sniper accuracy while still retaining their rapid-fire capability, and between them and the two door-mounts I have the straight-ahead firepower of a World War Two P-51 Mustang fighter."

The group started around the port side, stopping at the forward cabin window, which had opened to reveal one of those mounts. "One of four automated weapons mounts--the others are in my crew-entry door, and one mounted in each side of the rear hatchway, so don't ever worry about calling me in on a Hot LZ, because I can clear my own." Each mount normally carried yet another Browning .50, and depending on load weight could also take either a 7.62mm M134 Minigun, or the smaller 5.56mm Gatling known as the XM214 Six-Pack.

"That's not exactly a drop tank hanging off the end of my sponson anymore... true, there is some fuel capacity remaining, but most of the volume is devoted to yet another weapon--the GPU-5 Pave Claw 30mm Gatling, which between the two of them give me the tank-smashing power of an A-10 Warthog, and when fitted with my wings I gain a dozen  hardpoints for additional weapons." Blackout's wings had actually been modified from the A-10C composite wing design, incorporating both stressing for heavier ordnance on each hardpoint and additional fuel capability, and if necessary they could be pyrotechnically jettisoned in-flight to return the aircraft's cloaking capabilites. "The rail-mounted missile in front of you is a Python 4, an Israeli-made counterpart to our own Sidewinder, and the engine above you is a heavily modified version of the GE38-1B turboshaft developed for the new CH-53K, but each of mine is rated for ten thousand horsepower instead of the K's 7500." The rail itself was a multi-use device; in addition to carrying and launching misiles for self-defense, each had a built-in countermeasure dispenser loaded with an assortment of decoy goodies.

The beast continued as they walked around the sponson, "Above my sponson, you'll see both a decoy dispenser and a launcher for ALE-40 towed decoys. The 'bat wing' that carries my gun pods can be replaced with an extended version that holds two pods or tanks, and that extended rack is also part of the support structure for my wings." He paused, letting them reach the area behind the sponsons near the rear ramp. "The device on my 'hip' is one of two NEMESIS point-defense lasers--with them, I can decoy or destroy almost all inbound missile attacks and if need be even blind an attacking fighter pilot. Between them is my aft ramp, large enough you can drive a car into my hold. The rail above the NEMESIS presently carries an AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided air-to-air missile, but can also carry IR or optical-guided weapons as well." Unfortunately, most vehicles bigger than a sportscar or sedan were too tall to fit in the hold, and things like Land Rovers had to be carried as sling-loads hanging from the belly cargo-hooks, which could handle the weight of most armored fighting vehicles and even complete prefabricated buildings.

They walked around behind the massive tailfin with its gull-wing stabilizer, towering three stories above the tarmac, and continued the tour from there. "Where a standard CH-53E or K carries its oil cooler, I have a fourth engine--you can tell me from any other aircraft by the second 'basket' of an Engine Air Particle Separator on the starboard side. You'll also note that where a standard Super Stallion has a seven-bladed main rotor that requires supports when folded, my eight-blade rotor's blades fold over onto each other so the rotor assembly is self-supporting. Also, each engine's tailpipe is fitted with transducers for acoustic phase-cancellation so all you hear from me is my rotor-wash, and by the time you hear those hurricane-force winds blowing it's too late..."

As they continued around to the entry door, the machine cautioned, "Please watch your step, that first one's a bit high," and they piled into the forward cargo hold. "Do be careful about that black box that looks like a large footlocker--it's my primary computer core, the single piece that is 'me'. The 'pizza racks' hanging on the wall are part of my navigation systems, and while they take far less space than the original Pave Low package they still get hot enough to keep passenger meals warm through the flight. If you'll look forward into my cockpit, you'll notice that my instrument panel has been totally redesigned... virtually all of the old analog 'steam gauges' have been replaced by those three huge touchscreens." Each pilot's seat faced a huge three-panel display, with a narrower but taller one in the middle. "The two displays on the sides are for flight instrumentation and navigation, and the center is the Tactical Situation Display, an evolution of the original Pave Low IDAS/MTT system that facilitated mission replanning and adjusting to new threats in real-time. It also provides engine data when I have a human flight engineer operating my powertrain..."

Old Wombat:
Interesting! :))

Very technical but, then, I don't know your target audience & they may like it that way. Reminds me, in part, of some Sci Fi movies, where they get someone to detail the latest gadget to the audience just before it breaks down & goes bat-nuts on the heroes. My preferred style (mind you, I haven't actually done any real writing) is to introduce such information in small packages over the 1st 1 or 2 chapters, so the reader doesn't get slammed with technical overload. Again, you know your audience, I don't. :D

I see NCIS gets a mention. ;)

:)

Guy

Diamondback:
Yep, it's actually for an NCIS fan-fic forum... an ex-spy turned mad scientist who sometimes worked with Team Gibbs built the big beast, but DiNozzo was actually the one who gave him his name: "Oh my God, you... YOU BUILT BLACKOUT! AND we don't have Optimus Prime to clean up the mess..." And then he promptly got Gibbs-slapped for it... first-ever Triple Play between Gibbs, Ziva and McGee all at once.

Actually, the plan is to toss up each "stop on the tour" as a separate section, give the others time to digest it and ask questions--it's also a bit of a planning checklist for the model I'm building, though I'm not doing the extended batwings or A-10 wing add-on. Good point on all the jargon--I'm trying to "paint a picture in words", but sometimes it can be a challenge writng tech for non-technophiles.

Re the machine as a character, no "worm turn" here... he's just trying to convince the team that he's worth accepting as "one of the guys" despite being too big to fit into the building, kinda like the really smart but strange kid everyone asks for homework but nobody ever invites to parties with the cool kids. LOL

Old Wombat:
Didn't think it was going to go bat-nuts, he's a return good-guy character, but it just read that way - like in the movie "Stealth" for example.

I'd like to see Blackout with the A-10 wings & a full "ready for bear" load-out.... that'd be fun! 8)

:)

Guy

Diamondback:
Yeah, OW, the Load For Bear version would be interesting to do someday in a smaller scale... when I have the skills to do it and have both Super Stallion and Pave Low parts both available in 1/72 or 1/144. And preferably a cheaper core kit than risking screwing up my expensive Academy CH-53E... Inner wing section (the straight inboard of a Hog) mounts at 19 degree incidence, then another inboard section out to the tip attached to that at 19degrees incidence and 12 degree anhedral. (Since the inspiration was "Pave Low meets Super-Sized Hind, I'm just using the Hind's numbers.)

I mean, 64 Hellfires and/or Brimstones, PLUS air-to-air missiles, PLUS Bristling With Guns like a freaking flying battleship? That's a "Your Ass Is Grass" load if ever there was one... and then there's the option of loading Have Naps or AGM-130s for those "When You REALLY Want To Reduce Someone To Their Component Molecules" situations. LOL

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