The UH-80 Ghost Hawk is a BLUFOR medium-lift utility helicopter with stealth design. The Ghost Hawk was developed for special operations with a focus on deployment and extraction of troops undetected by enemy radar. Some pilots say the stealth design hindered the versatility of the helicopter compared to its predecessor, the UH-60. Nevertheless, the Ghost Hawk is now used as a primary transport helicopter in the BLUFOR army.
Field Manual
»
Design
The Ghost Hawk is a five-bladed, twin engine, rotary-wing stealth helicopter designed for slingloading cargo and to transport troops into battle.
Armament
It is armed by default with twin miniguns fitted to side doors located just behind the cockpit. Both miniguns are individually fed with a single linked belt with 2,000 rounds of 6.5 mm ammunition (with a combined total of 4,000 rounds).
The Ghost Hawk does not support dynamic loadouts as the door guns are unable to mount any other types of weapons, nor does it have the ability to fit any stub wings onto the fuselage.
Deploying NATO troops into battle.
Features
Like the AH-99 Blackfoot, the Ghost Hawk's rotors are modified so that they operate much more silently. It is more difficult to hear a Ghost Hawk flying in from afar compared to the Mohawk or the PO-30, both of which can be easily heard from many kilometres away.
The stealthy design of the airframe also makes it difficult to detect by fighter radars, and can easily blend into ground clutter provided that the pilot flies nap-of-the-earth.
Laying down suppressive fire with the 6.5 mm minigun.
And unlike its AAF counterpart, the Ghost Hawk is always armed by default. This means that it is far less risky to drop or pick up troops/cargo in a hot landing zone since the Ghost Hawk's door gunners can suppress the enemy, whereas the Mohawk cannot do the same without an escort providing cover for it.
Mobility
The Ghost Hawk is fairly agile and is second only to the Blackfoot in terms of manoeuvrability. While not nearly as fast as the Mohawk, it is simpler to fly and has overall better stability.
Drawbacks
Though the Ghost Hawk is durable enough to sustain a small amount of ground fire, in terms of protection it remains just as lightly armoured as the Mohawk. As such, it should not be flown into areas with significant anti-air threats as a single surface-to-air missile is enough to cripple (if not outright destroy) the Ghost Hawk.
Crew Capacity
The Ghost Hawk has a seating capacity of twelve personnel (including the crew). This consists of both the pilot and co-pilot, and up to ten passengers who sit on back-facing seats in the centre compartment.
Camouflage
Green
Black
Sand
Tropic
1/4
Green: Pattern-less olive drab green paint scheme.
Black: Pattern-less matte black paint scheme. Used by both Mediterranean and Pacific NATO forces.
Sand: Two-tone dazzle pattern camouflage scheme used by CTRG forces in arid/desert environments.
Tropic: Two-tone dazzle pattern camouflage scheme used by CTRG forces in jungle/tropic environments.
Protection
The Ghost Hawk has a base armour value of 40.
Hull
Hull damage is calculated based on the integrity of other components on the Ghost Hawk. Until all other parts of the helicopter have been critically damaged, the hull itself can never be "destroyed".
Engines
Each of the Ghost Hawk's engines can survive 28 points of damage (there are two in total). They take 300% increased damage from high-explosive (HE) type munitions.
If damaged: Reduced power output and makes it difficult to gain both speed and altitude. If destroyed: Can potentially blow up the Ghost Hawk instantly if overall status of helicopter is at critical.
Fuel tank
The Ghost Hawk's fuel tank can only take 28 points of damage before rupturing. It takes 200% increased damage from HE-type munitions.
Destroying the Ghost Hawk's fuel tank will not result in a total loss unless the helicopter's damage levels are at critical.
Instruments
Consists of the pilot/gunner flight instruments, Multi-Functional Displays (MFD) and Helmet Mounted Display (HMD). They can incur 52 points of damage before failing, and also take 150% increased damage from HE-type munitions.
If damaged: Occasional flickering of MFDs and HMD. Other instruments remain unaffected. If destroyed: MFDs and HMD disabled. Instruments may not display proper readings.
Main rotor
The main rotor can survive 104 points of damage before failure. It takes 250% increased damage from HE-type munitions.
A disabled main rotor makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the Ghost Hawk's lift. Unless the tail rotor has also been disabled however, the Ghost Hawk can still be (reasonably) controlled at low airspeeds.
Tail rotor
The tail rotor can resist 52 points of damage before failure. It takes 600% increased damage from HE-type weapons.
A disabled tail rotor will drastically increase torque from the main rotor. At low airspeeds, the Ghost Hawk will become extremely difficult to control due to constant yaw shifting to one side.
Stealth
The Ghost Hawk provides limited stealth against active radars and infrared sensors. Against fighter radars, it stands a better chance of remaining undetected by flying above ground clutter:
RCS
The Ghost Hawk has a radar cross-section rating of 0.7, which lowers the maximum detection range of active radars by 30%.
IR
The Ghost Hawk has reduced visibility on the infrared spectrum, and can only be detected at 80% of an infrared-based sensor's maximum range (factor of 0.8; reduction of 20%).
Visual
The Ghost Hawk does not apply any reductions to visual-based sensors, and can be tracked at full ranges.
Sensors
Designed exclusively for transporting troops, the Ghost Hawk has only one type of sensor available:
Active Radar
The Ghost Hawk does not use an active radar as it does not have any weapon systems that would require one.
Infrared Search and Track/Visual Sensor
The Ghost Hawk does not have the ability to detect targets visually or through IRST.
Radar Warning Receiver/Passive Radar
The RWR has a 360 degree detection radius and a target recognition range of 12 km.
Laser Spot Tracker
The Ghost Hawk does not have the ability to lock onto laser marks or infrared strobes.
Armament
The crew chief positions control the twin Minigun 6.5 mm turrets mounted to the side doors on each side of the airframe. The pilot does not have the ability to "control" the gunner weapons, though they can order them to hold/open fire at will on command:
Minigun 6.5 mm
Base damage value
Aerodynamic friction
Initial velocity (m/s)
Penetration depth (mm)
10
-0.0009
825
12.375
Side door 6.5 mm Gatling guns. Useful for suppressing infantry and disabling unarmoured ground vehicles.
It can attain a fire rate of up to ~ 1,818 rounds per minute and has a muzzle velocity of 825 m/s. For dispersion, it is always fixed at 0.0115 rad regardless of range. It takes 15 seconds to reload a fresh linked belt for both guns (assuming the Ghost Hawk has been depleted and is rearming at a logistical vehicle).
Vertical rotation limits are the same for both gunners, and have a maximum elevation of 5 degrees with a depression of 50 degrees. This also applies to horizontal rotation and is limited to 160 degrees in both directions (depending on the side that the gun is mounted on).
The Ghost Hawk has a maximum lifting capacity of 4000 kg and is capable of slingloading a variety of light vehicles and equipment.
However, its lifting abilities are not quite comparable to the larger CH-67 Huron or even the AAF'sCH-49 Mohawk, as it cannot transport MRAPs, UGVs, any of the armed boats or the Huron's supply containers.
Trivia
The Ghost Hawk is ArmA 3's take on the real-world stealth variant of the Sikorsky "UH-60 Black Hawk" that was supposedly flown by U.S. special operations during the raid in Operation Neptune Spear.
Pre-2.02 non-Inverse Kinematics (IK) side gunner.
Following the release of Game Update 2.02, the side gunners now physically "use" their hands to handle the grips on the side door miniguns.
Prior to the update, the gunners would simply "control" the gun without physically touching the weapons in the exact same way as helicopter side gunners did in previous titles (Armed Assault/ArmA 2).
The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content.
Unused stub wing-fitted Ghost Hawk icons.
While the model can no longer be found in the game files, a leftover icon (Texture names: heli_transport_01_armed_ca.paa.paa, map_heli_transport_01_armed_ca.paa) still exists for a variant of the Ghost Hawk that would have been supposedly outfitted with external stub wings akin to the real-life External Stores Support System (ESSS).
This configuration would have made it similar to that of the real-world "MH-60L Direct Action Penetrator", a variant of the standard UH-60 (which the Ghost Hawk is based on) that was designed exclusively to serve as a gunship.
Co-incidentally, Cold War Assault also had a variant of the UH-60 that was designed with the same configuration; albeit with the fuel tanks being purely cosmetic and armed with just twin 70 mm rocket pods instead.
A repurposed model of the Ghost Hawk fitted with stub wings would eventually make an appearance in Mobile Ops, but as an unmanned drone for the Drone Launchpad defensive building instead.
Gallery
The interior of the Ghost Hawk's cockpit.
Pilot-side interior view on the flight deck of the USS Liberty.
NATO
NATO - Vehicles (ArmA 3)
