Armed version, to which all planned OH-58Ds are being modified; integrated weapons pylons, uprated transmission and engine, lateral CG limits increased, raised gross weight, EMV protection of avionics bays, localized strengthening, RWR, IR jammer, video recorder, SINCGARS radios, laser warning receiver and tilted vertical fin.
The OH-58 is a four-bladed, single-engined helicopter that was developed to meet the U.S. Army's need for a scout helicopter capable of observation and reconnaissance duties.
Armament
It is armed with twin 70 mm rocket pods mounted onto stub wings fitted on both sides of the fuselage.[CfgVh 4] Each rocket pod contains 7 rockets fitted with high-explosive (HE) warheads for a combined total of 14 rockets.[CfgWp 1]
OH-58 en-route to a target. Note the observation/camera pod fitted to the mast of the main rotors.
Features
Designed purely as a scout helicopter, the OH-58 is a smaller and lightweight counterpart to the Cobra helicopter. Whilst it lacks the heavy armament of the latter, it compensates by being able to use a laser designator (located in the mast's camera pod) to mark targets for laser-guided bombs dropped from the A-10.[CfgVh 4]
Its small size and relative inconspicuousness renders it difficult to spot from afar by SovietShilkas, which also makes it highly useful in screening areas ahead of friendly forces to spot ambushes and any other potential threats.
Mobility
The OH-58 is slower than both the AH-1 and the AH-64 at its top speed, though it has (very) slightly increased agility compared to both helicopters.
Drawbacks
Outside of laser marking targets in a forward air control role, the OH-58's overall purpose is quite niche, and utility-wise is fairly limited since the OH-58's twin rocket pods are intended to be used for self-defence only.
They do not store enough rockets to allow the OH-58 to be used in a close air support role (unlike the AH-1 or the AH-64). At the same time, the OH-58 has minimal armour plating (30)[CfgVh 5] which means that even concentrated bursts of small arms fire can down the OH-58 in a matter of seconds.
Crew Capacity
The OH-58 only contains enough seats for a crew of two that consists of the pilot and the observer, who operates the camera pod and additionally doubles as the co-pilot. It cannot transport any passengers.
Protection[]
The OH-58 has 30 points of armour plating.[CfgVh 5]
Armament[]
The co-pilot (alternately referred to as the "gunner") controls the twin FFAR rocket pods and the camera pod's laser designator:[CfgVh 4]
Rockets can be fired once every 0.15 seconds.[CfgWp 3] They are always launched with an initial velocity of 44 m/s[CfgWp 2] and take a further 3.5 seconds[CfgAm 5] to reach a top speed of 1,000 m/s in-flight.[CfgAm 4] The warheads have a blast radius of 3 metres.[CfgAm 3]
Optics[]
Co-pilot/Observer (Gunner)[]
The co-pilot/observer is the only crewman that has control over the OH-58's camera pod. The camera pod has variable zoom capability, allowing for a minimum magnification of 0.33x[CfgVh 6][Formula 1] up to a maximum of 13.3x.[CfgVh 7][Formula 2] The camera has a maximum horizontal rotation limit of 86 degrees in either direction.[CfgVh 8][CfgVh 9] Vertical rotation on the other hand, is limited to a maximum elevation and depression of 30 degrees.[CfgVh 10][CfgVh 11]
It is possible for the gunner to wear their own night vision goggles while looking through it.
AI[]
NOTE:The following information only applies to the AI.
The OH-58 is considered to be a medium-risk threat[4] to AI-controlled infantry units and ground vehicles (0.6/0.6).[CfgVh 14]
AI-controlled aircraft consider the OH-58 to be a low-risk threat (0.3), and will only attack it if there are no other more threatening targets in range.[CfgVh 14]
The OH-58 was not included as part of the default set of helicopters that could be used in Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (the initial release name of Cold War Assault) and was only added with the release of Patch 1.30.[1][6]
To date, the OH-58 remains as the only dedicated scout helicopter in the entire series that isn't classified as an unmanned drone (e.g. the AH-6X in ArmA 2 or the MQ-12 Falcon in ArmA 3).
The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content.
Unused RC variant.
There are two more hidden and unusable variants of the OH-58, a civilian/guerilla variant (Classname: JetRanger[7]) and a smaller, seemingly remote-controlled version (Classname: JetRangerSilent[8]).
The civilian/guerilla variant's model is not properly configured and will cause Cold War Assault to crash if any attempt is made to spawn it in-game due to it referencing a model that doesn't exist.[9]
The remote-controlled version on the other hand, has a model assigned that does exist.[10] It will begin to spin its rotors but cannot actually be flown. It will also simply blow up if placed in mid-air since it will immediately crash to the ground soon after spawning.
Gallery[]
Official Patch 1.30 "postcard" (as part of the Ultimate Upgrade 3 pack).
United States - Vehicles (ArmA: Cold War Assault)