Atlas/Pegasus revisit

Revisiting an old idea (4 years ago), in this case for a wheeled ICV designed to be carried under a helicopter.

Although I liked the concept, I wasn't too sure about the actual designs - the helicopter rotors are far too small, the wings would rob too much power in hover, etc. so I decided to have a go at redesigning them.

First, the helicopter:

Exploring several different designs of cockpit, landing gear, wings etc whilst trying to keep a resemblance to the original design.  Also, I wasn't too happy with the transport clamps - the articulated arms were just too "fiddly" and didn't look robust enough for hanging a 10 tonne vehicle off.  I explored several options until I hit on the idea of using a version of the twist-lock mechanism that shipping containers are moved with.

And the ICV:

The original design had an '70s design aesthetic; for the revisit I decided to go for a more modern '90s aesthetic, which also fits in with the boom in wheeled MICVs post Cold-War.  The various turret designs (actually more like remote weapon stations) are derived from the need to keep the height as low as possible so that the vehicle fits under the helicopter without the 'copter having to have stilt-like landing gear.

A more developed version of one of the turret design, with a fold-down independent commanders sight to permit hunter-killer operations.  At the bottom are some sketches of a retractable ATGM launcher based on the "Mephisto" HOT missile launcher.

Sketches to see how the different turret designs fit onto the chassis (both physically and aesthetically); I also used them to explore different modular armour and side hatch layouts.  An important consideration is how the transport clamp would attack to the front brackets - for the cannon turrets, the barrel needs to be swung out of the way; on the first design it would have to be traversed to the side (since the rear of the turret has quite a significant overhang), whilst the second option would simply traverse to the rear (which looks neater, at least)

Since one of the chief intended uses of the helicopter/ICV combo is operating behind enemy lines, some sort of air defence seemed like a sensible idea, hence this design based on the ill-fated Mauler SAM system; it also shows the location of the exhaust louvers on the side.