UH-144 Falcon (Earth-7149)

The UH-144 Falcon is a versatile, multipurpose utility helicopter manufactured by Mainz Träger, used for the transport and deployment of troops and air-to-ground vehicles by the Coalition Nationale Spatiale Française.

Design
The UH-144 Falcon is a versatile, multipurpose utility helicopter. The Falcon is exceptionally discrete, while remaining incredibly effective. The Falcon gained favor within the Coalition Nationale Spatiale Française for proving to be an economical alternative to the larger D77-TC Pelican dropships for short-range troop transportation and deployment. A pair of Falcons can easily and quickly transport a fully-equipped infantry squad faster than any previous helicopter, while providing overwhelming support fire, in most weather conditions. The Falcon's hull is sturdy, able to easily shrug off small arms fire and even certain heavier attacks.

The frame of the Falcon is composed of a single elongated fuselage with a narrow, single-man cockpit and a large rear cabin, flanked by small wings. The pilot resides in the closed cockpit, while the crew have their choice of two gunner seats in extended buckets, two interior passenger seats, an aft bench, and a limited amount of standing room. Gunners secured themselves within the Falcon with a safety harness that hung from the ceiling.

Propulsion
The Falcon is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, equipped with a transverse rotor and engine pod on each wing. Although the rotors are powerful and capable of lifting a fully-loaded Falcon on their own, two dorsal-routed jet turbines provide most of the helicopter's thrust during forward flight. To take off, the Falcon's rotors are angled so that the rotor blades are horizontal. When the Falcon has reached the desired height, the pilot tilts the rotors forward so that the rotor blades are near vertical. In this mode, the wings provide some of the lift, and the rotors provide thrust as a propeller.

The twin-turbine system gives the Falcon an extremely agile range of maneuverability. The Falcon's impressive maneuverability makes the helicopter an ideal aircraft for the tight confines of many battlefield environments, ranging from a narrow gorge, a dense forest, to even a skyscraper-laden cityscape. The Falcon is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 296 kilometers per hour (184 miles per hour).

Armaments
Distinguished by its unquestionably effective and relatively heavy weaponry, the Falcon is capable of being fitted with a wide variety of armaments. The primary armament of the Falcon is an M638 20mm autocannon, fixed in a nose turret below the pilot's main cabin. The autocannon provides effective suppressive fire when extracting or deploying personnel. Flanking the vehicle on both sides are modular weapon emplacements that vary depending on the Falcon variant. The emplacements are installed on flexible mount hardpoints on either side of the open cabin, selected at the discretion of the Falcon's crew. The UH-144A variant is armed with a pair of M460 Automatic Grenade Launcher, while the UH-144S variant sports standard M247H 12.7mm machine guns. Both have proven incredibly effective against Covenant aircraft and providing point-to-point suppressive and attack fire on enemy ground emplacements and infantry.

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