MRC/Academy's 1/35 Sikorsky AH-60L DAP Blackhawk |  | Background The US Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160 SOAR) is a unique entity in Army aviation. If you find a 'stock' helicopter on their flightline, it is probably a transient. These are the folks that go where sane folks fear to tread, but they carry a big stick! Many folks will remember the 160th from the movie 'Blackhawk Down' as these folks not only starred in the movie, they were also in the midst of it in Somalia. Their trademark AH-6J and MH-6J Little Birds (significantly updated OH-6 Loaches) have wreaked havoc behind enemy lines in virtually every formal US action as well as many more that we will never know about. The 160th also operate the MH-47E Chinook and the MH-60K/L Blackhawk. The AH-60L is an armed outgrowth of the MH-60L and provides more firepower over a greater operating range than the AH-6J. The 'DAP' in its title stands for Direct Action Penetrator, which is evidently Army speak for their new bird's ability to kick the door down. Equipped with shortened External Stores Support System (ESSS) 'wings', the AH-60L is armed with the AGM-114 Hellfire missile (up to eight per aircraft) or two 19-shot rocket pods. In addition, the aircraft is also equipped with two 7.62mm gatling guns as well as two 50 caliber machine guns, either of which are efficient at converting terrorists to martyrs. The Kit For a review of the basic kit, you can read the UH-60L Blackhawk review that appeared in the April 2001 edition, and/or the MH-60G Pave Hawk review that appeared in October 2001. As with the previous MRC/Academy Blackhawk releases, this kit is molded in light gray styrene and features some great detail etched throughout the kit. The AH-60L kit is an interesting blend of these previous releases. All of the parts trees from the original UH-60L release are included (some of which were left out of the second release, the MH-60G Pave Hawk). The MH-60G's parts (tree G) are also included to provide the requisite air refueling probe, cargo bay fuel cell, and updated horizontal stabilizer. One new tree (K) is added to this kit that contains the shorter (single pylon) ESSS 'wings', eight Hellfire missiles w/launchers, two 19-shot rocket pods, radar dome, FLIR turret, machine guns, gatling guns, updated CRT-based instrument panel, SATCOM antennas, etc. Markings Markings are provided for two specific aircraft: -
AH-60L, 160 SOAR, 26365 'Southern Comfort' -
AH-60L, 160 SOAR, (serial unknown) 'Razors Edge' In addition, a variety of generic numbers are provided to allow the modeler to depict other aircraft in the fleet. A complete set of maintenance stencils are also included. Conclusion It is great to see MRC/Academy continue to evolve their Blackhawk to represent the interesting array of variants out there. This AH-60L is probably one of the most interesting in my opinion, but it will be great to see some USN versions as well. While the classic Seahawk would require a major fuselage re-tool, the new MH-60S Knighthawk should be doable with the majority of the key molds. My sincere thanks to MRC for this sample! | 
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