Ahassan
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The Panha 2091 is a variation, upgrade, of the Bell AH-1J SeaCobra delivered to the Shah in the '70's. The original model was armed with a 20 mm Gatling gun, Zuni and Hydra rockets. As far as i can tell, the gunships were NOT armed with the sidewinder missiles, despite wiki listing the AH-1J as being armed with them, i can not find any examples of them in Iran's arsenal, or anywhere else for that matter in any version below the AH-1T. That being said, there was a deal to transfer a number of AH-1T variants to the Shah, but this was short circuited due to the revolution. It is my hypothesis that there was some degree of technical preparation for the "T" variant provided to the Iranians, this then found its way into the current Panha variant.
The Canopy
The most noticeable feature that differentiates the Iranian version from the plain vanilla AH-J is the hard angled cockpit. It is generally assumed that this increases the armor of the cockpit, but this is not intrinsically true, though i am certainly not saying it has not been up armored. The advantage to this is that it gives a better all around vision to the pilot and gunner because it reduces glare off of the previously curved canopy. Also, whereas in the original, the canopy was a one-piece deal, the flat panel allows for a separate hatch for pilot and gunner. Above i mentioned that a flat panel does not necessitate up-armoring, in this case though it has happened, in this case, it is probably safe to assume that the armor is roughly equivalent to what would be found on the SuperCobra simply due to availability of technology, i.e. one armored glass is equivalent to another and is available on the world market quite easily. Also increasing visibility is increase in the height of the crew, this allows a wider range of view, though in my opinion, could increase vulnerability to fire tearing through the canopy instead of being lodged in the side of the cockpit.
Avionics and Sensors
The second thing you notice when looking at the Panha 2091 is that the traditional 'curved' nose of the birds delivered to the Shah has been replaced with a sensor package with appearance closely resembling the marines AH-1T. This is most likely the housing for the Hasib radar that was developed for the cobra. The Hasib has a range of four kilometers and an altitude of 50,000 feet. This is then tied into the TOW missiles that have been installed, complete with MFDs. Also attacked to this new sensor package is a FLIR system that is **believed** to be a copy of the AH-1Z due to its apparent similarity (i doubt this because there is no conceivable way Iran could get its hand on one to reverse engineer it). Also in this package is a multi-function Garmin GPS system. The MFDs are used, not only for the TOW's but also for displaying a litany of flight information such as engine status, navigation (tied to the GPS), and of course the FLIR. A radar-warning-receiver(RWR) has also been installed, with 4 antennas providing 360 degrees coverage. These new sensors can then be connected to the other weapons systems, not just the TOW's, thus increasing targeting capabilities by reducing vibration effect (a major problem, particularly on older models where crews actually had to hold the canopy down to prevent it from being jostled open when weapons were fired), and simply by improving precision because of the advancements in digital technology over electro-mechanical.
Most weapons on the original AH-1J remained the same, that is, the gun and rockets are still existent on the current model. However, we also saw the use of TOW missiles and Sidewinder AAM. First, as for the TOW capability, this is nothing really spectacular because some of the cobras delivered to the Shah had this factory installed, but some of them did not and presumably the 2091 upgrade is remedying this defect. Also, the TOW launchers have been modified to be able to fire the Toophan 1/2, the Iranian TOW varient, with slight differences from the original, These are then hooked up to the MFD and Hasib, which is above. As for the Sidewinder, this gives the Panha a crucial air-to-air cabability which was lacking in the original. There are two hardpoints, one on either side. This is also presumably hooked into the Hasib radar. I would like to say that i have only read about images of it, and have not actually seen this, so i would reccomend that it be taken with a grain of salt.
Weapons System
Also note that it has been brought to my attention that Panha is equipped with the AGM-65 Maverick Homing missile. They started using them on Cobras even before the US began(iranians in the '80's, whereas the US in 1990).
Design
new cockpit armoured panels
new, Iranian-designed canopy
New avionics
nose-mounted camera
new cockpit design
The Canopy
The most noticeable feature that differentiates the Iranian version from the plain vanilla AH-J is the hard angled cockpit. It is generally assumed that this increases the armor of the cockpit, but this is not intrinsically true, though i am certainly not saying it has not been up armored. The advantage to this is that it gives a better all around vision to the pilot and gunner because it reduces glare off of the previously curved canopy. Also, whereas in the original, the canopy was a one-piece deal, the flat panel allows for a separate hatch for pilot and gunner. Above i mentioned that a flat panel does not necessitate up-armoring, in this case though it has happened, in this case, it is probably safe to assume that the armor is roughly equivalent to what would be found on the SuperCobra simply due to availability of technology, i.e. one armored glass is equivalent to another and is available on the world market quite easily. Also increasing visibility is increase in the height of the crew, this allows a wider range of view, though in my opinion, could increase vulnerability to fire tearing through the canopy instead of being lodged in the side of the cockpit.
Avionics and Sensors
The second thing you notice when looking at the Panha 2091 is that the traditional 'curved' nose of the birds delivered to the Shah has been replaced with a sensor package with appearance closely resembling the marines AH-1T. This is most likely the housing for the Hasib radar that was developed for the cobra. The Hasib has a range of four kilometers and an altitude of 50,000 feet. This is then tied into the TOW missiles that have been installed, complete with MFDs. Also attacked to this new sensor package is a FLIR system that is **believed** to be a copy of the AH-1Z due to its apparent similarity (i doubt this because there is no conceivable way Iran could get its hand on one to reverse engineer it). Also in this package is a multi-function Garmin GPS system. The MFDs are used, not only for the TOW's but also for displaying a litany of flight information such as engine status, navigation (tied to the GPS), and of course the FLIR. A radar-warning-receiver(RWR) has also been installed, with 4 antennas providing 360 degrees coverage. These new sensors can then be connected to the other weapons systems, not just the TOW's, thus increasing targeting capabilities by reducing vibration effect (a major problem, particularly on older models where crews actually had to hold the canopy down to prevent it from being jostled open when weapons were fired), and simply by improving precision because of the advancements in digital technology over electro-mechanical.
Most weapons on the original AH-1J remained the same, that is, the gun and rockets are still existent on the current model. However, we also saw the use of TOW missiles and Sidewinder AAM. First, as for the TOW capability, this is nothing really spectacular because some of the cobras delivered to the Shah had this factory installed, but some of them did not and presumably the 2091 upgrade is remedying this defect. Also, the TOW launchers have been modified to be able to fire the Toophan 1/2, the Iranian TOW varient, with slight differences from the original, These are then hooked up to the MFD and Hasib, which is above. As for the Sidewinder, this gives the Panha a crucial air-to-air cabability which was lacking in the original. There are two hardpoints, one on either side. This is also presumably hooked into the Hasib radar. I would like to say that i have only read about images of it, and have not actually seen this, so i would reccomend that it be taken with a grain of salt.
Weapons System
Also note that it has been brought to my attention that Panha is equipped with the AGM-65 Maverick Homing missile. They started using them on Cobras even before the US began(iranians in the '80's, whereas the US in 1990).
Design
new cockpit armoured panels
new, Iranian-designed canopy
New avionics
nose-mounted camera
new cockpit design
