Gwŏn-Han GH-36 Jamjari
| GH-36 Jamjari | |
|---|---|
| File:GHZ 36M.png | |
| "HG" variant used by the Menghean Navy | |
| Role | fast attack helicopter |
| National origin |  Menghe
|
| Designer | Garayev-Hwang design bureau |
| First flight | 2003 |
| Introduction | 2012 (Oyashimese Federation) 2014 (Menghean Navy) |
| Status | In Service |
| Primary users | The Oyashimese Federation Menghean Navy |
| Produced | 2011-Present |
| Unit cost |
$38 million (2014)
|
The GH-36 Jamjari (Menghean: 잠자리, "Dragonfly") is a compound helicopter designed by Garayev-Hwang in Menghe. It originated as part of a joint-development contract with Rajland to develop a variant of the GH-32 Byŏrakbul with a pusher propeller in the tail. In time, the project came to encompass other major changes to the GH-32, such as larger wings, a revised nose and canopy shape, and the removal of the SIGINT antennas and processing systems. These changes were eventually deemed significant enough that the design was given an entirely separate GH designation than the Byŏrakbul.
Though a highly capable attack helicopter, the GH-36 gained notoriety in its development period due to conflicting project requirements between the Menghean and Oyashimese designers, which delayed the helicopter’s entry into production. As of January 2015, it had still not been accepted for service by the Menghean Army, though the Menghean Navy began receiving deliveries of the navalized GH-36HG in early 2014. The Army accepted a small batch for testing in March 2017.
Designation
Originally, it was planned that the new design would be designated as a compound-helicopter variant of the GH-32 "Byŏrakbul." Its first public appearance took place at the 2004 Garayev-Hwang military design expo in Hŭksan, as a small scale model labeled "GH-32Ch." Though it was only a small part of the wider exhibition, the unique variant briefly caught the attention of local media networks, as the GH-32 itself had only recently entered into service and had been the subject of a major publicity effort. The possibility of a pusher-prop variant attracted considerable debate among watchers of the Menghean military, mostly in the form of concern over whether the nation’s High Command would give attention to such an advanced design.
As the joint development process proceeded, however, it became clear that more significant modifications would have to be made. Due to the lack of a tail rotor, the interior of the rear fuselage would have to be extensively redesigned to make room for a driveshaft from the engines. The SIGINT equipment in the nose was also deleted, and both the nose and canopy were reshaped to reduce air resistance at high speeds. The stub wings were also lengthened and, after much debate, strengthened to accommodate a heavier payload.
After these changes were made, not much remained of the original GH-32 design, and in 2006 the program was officially re-designated as GH-36 in order to reflect this reality. There was also speculation that the Menghean Army’s procurement bureau did not wish to associate their own design with a risky program. Because little official information was being released in the initial stages of the project, however, public discussions continued referring to the compound helicopter as “GH-32Ch,” the caption first seen at the Hŭksan expo. Adding to the confusion, the GH-32Ch designation was recycled in 2010, this time to describe a variant of the “Byŏrakbul” fitted with the stronger, more efficient Oyashimese engines used by the compound variant. It was only in 2011, with the delivery of the first units to Oyashimese trial service, that the Menghean government officially clarified that the true designation was GH-36.
Development
Origins
While it is most clearly connected to the GH-32, the “Jamjari” technically originated with the GH-34 Yumog-in. In early 2003, after the design in prototypes 4 and 5 was approved but before full-scale production began, the Oyashimese Federation expressed interest in procuring the “Yumog-in” as its main attack helicopter. Garayev-Hwang wasted no time in preparing a “GH-34O” export variant with armament and avionics modified to suit the customer’s needs, but the Oyashimese military responded with a more advanced series of demands, including a pusher propeller on the tail.
The Garayev-Hwang staff were at first reluctant to make such a major modification to the “Yumog-in,” and the agreement might have stopped there, but as it happened one of the chief engineers involved in the deal happened to mention it to a high-ranking Army officer. While the Army had little interest in a pusher-propeller “Yumog-in,” the Army High Command staff of the time believed such an unconventional arrangement was worth pursuing for the GH-32 “Byŏrakbul,” which could benefit from the added speed and agility in reconnaissance and deep-interdiction operations. This intervention gave the proposal the traction it needed to win reluctant acceptance from Garayev-Hwang’s chief engineers, but it also foreshadowed the chain of political maneuvering and changing requirements which would complicate development later on.
One of the first major changes associated with the pusher propeller was the removal of the SIGINT equipment in the tail to make room for the driveshaft to the central transmission. This move was also partly political, as Menghean-Oyashimese relations in 2003 and 2004 were still unsteady in the face of the two nations’ differing economic ideologies and the Menghean military has proven reluctant to disclose the actual capabilities of the GH-32’s SIGINT suite. This change also necessitated an emptying and shortening of the nose section, and a streamlining of the canopy to reduce air resistance in level flight. Prototype 1, produced to these specifications, was completed in 2004 and flown at GH’s eastern testing facility near Hŭksan. These tests were carried out in secret, at a closed-off airfield in the less-populated area of the district, though a small mock-up differing in many respects from the actual Prototype 1 was exhibited at the Hŭksan military technology exhibition earlier in the same year.
Changing requirements
Oyashimese officials, who had been present during the later series of tests, confirmed that the new platform’s performance met their requirements but suggested that its weapons payload be increased. This came as a surprise to GH, as Prototype 1 had been developed from the lightweight GH-32 and was seen by the Menghean Army as a platform for reconnaissance and fast hit-and-run attacks rather than heavy, continuous close air support. GH’s engineers returned to the drawing board and began experimenting with a reshaped and better-reinforced wing structure, as well as stronger and more efficient Oyashimese engines. As GH had little experience in designing compound helicopters for heavy-weight work, the prototypes emerging from this requirement underwent extensive testing at the Hŭksan facility to gain more data on payload capacity at a variety of speeds and altitudes.
While little official data about the program was publicly released, speculation based on the Hŭksan expo model and supposed eyewitness reports from airfield workers suggested that the helicopter was falling short of performance requirements. Additionally, Menghe's 2005 Military Reforms had resulted in a thorough purge of “status promotions” in the High Command structure and a heavy modification of the Menghean Army’s official doctrine. The new leadership was considerably more skeptical of the complex project, and threatened to terminate support for it on multiple occasions. Further controversy arose in 2006, when one of the prototypes crashed into a mountainside while flying under conditions of low visibility. While the official investigation of the incident cited pilot error as the reason for the crash, there was widespread public speculation that the prototype had been loaded beyond the safe requirements laid out by scale-model tests.
In spite of these problems, Garayev-Hwang managed to meet the new requirements, unveiling the new production prototype to the Oyashimese military staff in 2007. Unfortunately, development problems were not at an end; the Oyashimese officials demanded that a forty-millimeter automatic grenade launcher be installed in the nose as a further improvement to the GH-36’s firepower.
To complicate matters further, the aftershocks of the 2005 military reforms were continuing to shake the Menghean Army's high-command staff. The Menghean Army, which had initially been the one to save the project from cancellation, now viewed the GH-36 as a white elephant: it had been the subject of considerable cost and schedule overruns, and many believed its added complexity would render it unfit for service on the harsh, muddy conditions of the Western Frontier. Meanwhile, Menghean Naval Aviation was growing increasingly interested in the GH-36’s potential as a specialized anti-surface and ground-attack platform to supplement the more ASW-oriented GH-28. In the Navy’s view, a 40-millimeter grenade launcher was not only superfluous for the predicted range of missions, but would interfere with the placement of a large sea-search radar in the nose.
At first, Garayev-Hwang refused to follow through on this request, instead proposing that a separate 40mm grenade launcher pod be developed for mounting on one of the external hardpoints. Oyashimese officials, however, insisted that the grenade launcher be part of the aircraft’s organic armament in order to free up hardpoint space for other weapons. It was only after the Oyashimese Federation threatened to withdraw its support for the program, which included responsibility for the electronics and engines, that Garayev-Hwang reluctantly installed a separate grenade-launcher turret in the nose and moved the nose radar to a dome atop the rotor mast. This prototype passed the final round of performance tests, and was approved for license-production in the Oyashimese Federation.
Even after the above decision was made, the Menghean Navy requested that the grenade launcher not be applied to its own variant, still in development at the time. Other changes included a sturdier undercarriage, the use of corrosion-resistant alloys, and compatibility with the YDH-28 anti-ship missile. The 22-millimeter autocannon was retained for combat against small boats, but its ammunition load was reduced. Original requirements also called for a spooled cable in the center of the hull, which could be hooked to a latch on a warship’s landing pad and used to guide a landing on heavy seas, but problems in developing this system were not addressed in time and the decision was made to remove it from the first production variants rather than cause further delays.
The naval variant was also distinguished by a folding structure which would compensate for its large length in shipboard storage. The tail boom was fitted with a hinge, allowing it to be folded alongside the rest of the hull, and the wings could be folded upward between the inner and outer two hardpoints. The rotor blades were also hinged at their joint to the central hub, and could be folded back along the helicopter’s fuselage. Even in this more compact arrangement, the GH-36HG (Haegun, Navy) was slightly longer than the GH-28, meaning that while it could be supported on light carriers it could not use the hangars on existing cruisers, frigates, and destroyers and was largely restricted to coastal operations.
Design
The GH-36 is a compound helicopter, also known as a gyrodyne, with a pusher propeller on the end of the tail boom geared to the main engines in the fuselage. Lift at lower speeds is provided by two co-axial main rotors, as in the earlier GH-32. In contrast to the earlier design, however, the blades on the GH-36 feature modified tips and gearing mechanisms to reduce drag when the helicopter is traveling at higher speeds. At the maximum speed of 480 kilometers per hour, the co-axial rotor provides only 10% of the helicopter’s lift, with the wings accounting for the remaining 90%.
These wings also differ in that their longer span and sturdier internal structure allow the carrying of a much heavier payload. Official State numbers cite a maximum useful payload of 3,000 kilograms, higher even than that of the GH-34 “Yumog-in.” GH-36HGs in service with the Menghean Navy are often seen with a standard loadout of two YDH-28 or YDJ-47DH anti-ship missiles, four YDJ-82 light anti-ship missiles, and two infrared air-to-air missiles. This makes the GH-36 the only Menghean helicopter other than the GH-28 capable of carrying small anti-ship missiles.
Like the GH-32 before it, the GH-36 relies primarily on ejection seats with blade-clearing charges for crew safety. The cockpit is armored against 12.7mm fire, and features a 12.7mm-proofed bulkhead between the pilot and copilot/gunner positions, but offers little protection against heavier gun calibers and anti-air missiles. The canopy, which was curved to improve aerodynamics, is only rated against calibers in the 7.5mm range. Crash protection is also a major shortcoming compared to the GH-34 Yumog-in, as the zero-zero ejection seats are intended to be used even at low altitudes. Passive protection was also degraded by the compound-helicopter conversion; while the engines retain the advanced infrared-suppression systems used on the GH-32B, the pusher propeller was found to generate significantly more noise than the designers had anticipated.
Even compared to the GH-32, however, the “Jamjari” is noteworthy for its advanced electronics and sensor suite. This aspect of the design, like the new engines, was handled primarily by Oyashimese contractors. Both the pilot and copilot are given glass cockpits with two-screen liquid-crystal displays, as well as helmet sights considerably more advanced than those on the “Yumog-in” and “Byŏrakbul.” Due to their success in testing, many of these improvements were carried over into the “actual” GH-32Ch variant.
Service
At present, the main user of the GH-36 is the Oyashimese Federation, which was granted a production license for the “O” variant with modified weapons in 2011. The Menghean Navy placed an order for fifty GH-36HGs the following year, and the first deliveries were made in 2014. Menghean “Jamjaris” have so far been assigned to coastal bases.
As of January 2015, the GH-36 had yet to enter service with the Menghean Army, leading to speculation that its adoption would be delayed indefinitely. In March 2017, however, the Army placed a small order for GH-36s modified to its standards, and there are rumors that it will use the GH-36 to replace its stocks of somewhat disappointing GH-34 Yumog-in helicopters.
Role
Compared to the GH-32 before it, the “Jamjari” places a higher premium on deep interdiction and a lesser one on reconnaissance. The deletion of the onboard SIGINT suite means that one of the hardpoints must be taken up by a signals intercept pod for reconnaissance missions. Meanwhile, the heavier payload – heavier even than that of the GH-34 “Yumog-in” – allows a larger quantity and variety of weapons to be carried. The more efficient engines also marked a major increase in capability, allowing a longer strike range or more time on station during a mission.
Specifications (GH-36O)
General Characteristics
- Crew: 1 pilot (rear seat), 1 copilot/gunner (forward seat)
- Hull Length: 14.91 meters including rear rotor hub
- Length Overall: 16.95 meters
- Rotor Diameter: 14.77 meters
- Wingspan: 6.32 meters
- Height: 4.73 meters (including gun; landing gear stowed)
- Empty Weight: 5,940 kilograms
- Loaded Weight: 9,680 kilograms
- Powerplant: 2x Isobishi Heavy Industries turboshaft, 1,850 kW each
- Rotor Arrangement: Co-axial main rotor with three evenly blades per section
single aft pusher propeller with four evenly spaced blades
Performance
- Maximum Speed: 480 km/h
- Cruise Speed: 450 km/h
- Range: 1,280 kilometers (fully loaded, on internal fuel)
- Combat Radius: 580 kilometers with 10-minute loiter time and 5% fuel reserves
- Ferry range: 2,000 kilometers with external tanks
- Service Ceiling: 6,000 meters
- Rate of climb: 12.4 meters per second under main rotor's power only
Armament
- Guns: 1x chin-mounted 30mm M230 chain gun
1x chin-mounted 40mm Mk 19 grenade launcher - Hardpoints: 6 total with a capacity of 3000 kilograms