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PANHA 2091 (Toufan)

1998 MODERN AIRCRAFT

History of PANHA 2091 (First Rice)

The Islamic Republic of Iran received most of the military support of the United States of America prior to the 1979 revolution. With this in mind, it procured many high-profile aircraft systems of the time, including the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the Northrop F-5 Tiger series of fighter jets. An oft-forgotten item in Iran's military inventory is the upgraded Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra twin-engine light attack helicopter, of which the Imperial Iranian Army received 202 helicopters under the designation "AH-1J International". These rotorcraft were delivered from 1975 to 1978.

The specimens were later placed under the new flag of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIA) and served in the coming bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s (1980-1988). By the end of 2008, at least 50 specimens were known Example is running.

Over time, however, these helicopters began to show their age in terms of battlefield survivability, prompting Indigenous plans to upgrade production lines with locally produced parts and technology wherever possible. The end result is the PANHA 2091 "Headsail", a modernized version of the American Bell AH-1J "International" series, based on the United States Marine Corps (USMC) AH-1J.

PANHA stands for Iran Helicopter Support and Update Company, and the program is known as "Project 2091" and is currently nicknamed "Top Sail". PANHA has a proven track record of replicating a variety of complex system types, and likes helicopters in general - the American Bell model in particular - and also serves these platforms to the Iranian military.

Introduced in 1998, the PANHA 2091 is currently in limited active duty in the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.

The most notable visual feature of the Iranian version is the new ballistic shield design. However, a more in-depth look at the redesigned helicopter disassembly reveals new front and rear cockpit instrument panels for the two crew members, a new avionics suite, improved cockpit armor and nose-mounted FLIR camera.

A Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) was installed to ensure protection of the vulnerable rear area of ??the aircraft. Integrated GPS has been included to improve battlefield navigation. Toufan retains SeaCobra's three-barreled M197 20mm Gatling cannon in its powered chinturret assembly as well as in the landing gear. Toufan also retains full short weapon stubs to attach various weapons such as rocket pods and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

The Wingstub tip is believed to support the "Misagh-2" short-range surface-to-air missile, an Iranian counterpart to the Chinese counterpart of the American AIM-9 Sidewinder.

The Toufan is powered by a twin turboshaft unit passing through a combined gearbox - probably based on Pratt & Whitney Canada original installation due to Iran's previous operating and design experience with this power unit. If this is the case, the power will drive the same twin-blade main rotor and twin-blade tail rotor (set to starboard) as the AH-1J International brand. Hypothetical performance estimates could include a top speed of 145 mph and a range of up to 373 miles.

Operators remain the pilot (rear cockpit) and gunner (front row) in the standard tandem seating arrangement.