The Aérospatiale Gazelle (company designations SA 340, SA 341 and SA 342) is a French five-seat helicopter, commonly used for light transport, scouting and light attack duties. It is powered by a single Turbomeca Astazou turbine engine and was the first helicopter to feature a fenestron tail instead of a conventional tail rotor.
It was designed by Sud Aviation, later Aérospatiale, and manufactured in France and the United Kingdom through a joint production agreement with Westland Aircraft.
Further manufacturing under license was performed by SOKO in Yugoslavia and the Arab British Helicopter Company (ABHCO) in Egypt.
Since being introduced to service in 1973, the Gazelle has been procured and operated by a number of export customers.
It has also participated in numerous conflicts around the world, including by Syria during the 1982 Lebanon War, by Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War in the 1990s, and by numerous participants on both sides of the 1991 Gulf War.
In French service, the Gazelle has been supplemented as an attack helicopter by the larger Eurocopter Tiger, but remains in use primarily as a scout helicopter.
General characteristics
Crew: 1 or 2
Capacity: up to 3 or 4 passengers
Length: 11.97 m (39 ft 3 in) including rotor
Height: 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in) overall; 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in) to top of rotor hub
Empty weight: 917 kg (2,022 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 1,800 kg (3,968 lb)
Fuel capacity: 735 L (194 US gal; 162 imp gal)
Oil :13 L (3.4 US gal; 2.9 imp gal) for engine :3.5 L (0.92 US gal; 0.77 imp gal) for gearbox
Powerplant: 1 × Turbomeca Astazou IIIA turboshaft, 440 kW (590 hp)
Main rotor diameter: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)
Main rotor area: 86.5 m2 (931 sq ft) NACA 0012 section
Performance
Maximum speed: 310 km/h (190 mph, 170 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 264 km/h (164 mph, 143 kn) max cruise at sea level
economical cruise speed: 233 km/h (145 mph; 126 kn)
Range: 361 km (224 mi, 195 nmi) at sea level with maximum fuel
Range with pilot and 500 kg (1,100 lb): 233 km (145 mi; 126 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
Hover ceiling IGE: 2,850 m (9,350 ft)
Hover ceiling OGE: 2,000 m (6,600 ft)
Rate of climb: 9 m/s (1,800 ft/min) max at sea level
Disk loading: 19.5 kg/m2 (4.0 lb/sq ft)
Armament
Guns: 2x forward-firing 7.62 mm (0.300 in) machine-guns (optional)
Rockets: Matra or Brandt 2.75 in (70 mm) or 68 mm (2.7 in) rocket pods (optional)
Missiles: 4x AS.11 or 2x AS.12 wire-guided missiles; 4x or 6x Euromissile HOT (optional)
Avionics
UHF, VHF, and HF radios; navigation equipment such as VOR and TACAN; Standard blind flying instruments.
