AH-1 Cobra Helicopters retired? Not sure if this where to post this but it was awesome here at the Caldor fire this year. Heard there was only two flying but they were not cost effective according to the article. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42793/ah-1-cobra-helicopter-gunships-turned-firefighters-have-flown-their-last mission?fbclid=IwAR1jRdikRWJu5ofr_PhT0mHjVpVD3fLHy4gwbkp1PLH88DMMeqZ1p3QXHgc!
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From Fire Aviation
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That’s a shame, I always like having one come in, if only for the coolness factor (which is no doubt outweighed by cost-effectiveness calculations).
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It served its purpose and the program is just moving to a new airframe. All the EO/IR sensors and downlink system is still going to be used. Hoping we can really expand the downlink to OPS on the line with ATAK for visualizing the realtime FMV and data they collect. Curious which airframe they choose.
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I’d be interested in hearing from folks who had access to the data in near-realtime, and how it supported specific tactical decisions?
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Going back a bit, we used it on the Millard Complex when a spot caused a little helo evac out of a helispot. Pertinent C&G and IC’s watch live. Certainly sped up the evac from a tough place. AJ may have been on the crew then.
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@Fish i have only tested with it live. We did live geospatial last year in Arizona. I was able to watch in CA in ATAK. The current system is direct link which is what we did but then linked it over the internet and kept the geospatial properties intact. Location data with the video is really is what makes video really actionable. Without location reference you get some
Fire behavior out of it but loses a ton of context imho.
Many times we are doing this where internet is non existent via cell which is why direct link to the aircraft is important in the field. Lots of ways to skin that cat of course. However if the aircraft can link to a spot that has internet then We can rebroadcast live. ATAK was purpose built for doing just this. Its the exact toll DRTI guys bring in the field.
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