OH-6

The OH-6 is an American generation 2 and 3 scout helicopter.

In-Game description
''The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine, light utility and observation helicopter that features a four-blade main rotor system. It is used for personnel transport, escort operations, offensive operations, and observation missions.''

Progression
The OH-6 comes after the UH-1B and costs 150 progression points.

Armament
It comes with 2 armaments options:

Camouflages
Default camouflage [stock]

Strategy
The OH-6 is a very powerful gen 2 scout/ground attack hybrid that is arguably one of the best offensive scouts, tier-for-tier in the game. This is a very capable little bird, more than able to clear out encampments on gen 2 and 3 maps by itself if piloted properly. Adding in the ability to call mortars and spot/call out it's own infantry make it one of, if not the best PvE progression points grinders in the game when fully upgraded.

From a durability standpoint, this thing is a glass cannon. It can be very unforgiving to new players just coming to grips with advanced handling techniques and evading fire. As strong as it is in most things, it can't take a hit at all as even infantry can do a substantial amount of damage to it in a hurry. Even the smallest hits hurt as it is extremely prone to hydraulics malfunctions and fires.. which is a death sentence to a machine that relies on it's agility. Also flares are mandatory immediate unlocks here. Do not play it unless you unlock flares 1st.

As hinted at the maneuverability of the Cayuse is very good. It stops very quickly, it also rolls and turns on a dime. This allows you to use terrain to maximum advantage, allowing you pull off maneuvers with ease that would cause a Cobra pilot to sweat. It also accelerates quickly, which means that while it's top speed isn't the greatest, you can still keep up with the pace of the match. It also tends to retain speed in up to moderate turns, which means changing directions to get to your next objective is a very painless process. In a skilled pilot's hands, in PvE MANPAD's will rarely touch you as dodging them is quite easy, and in tier 2 the AA is inaccurate enough that you can juke it into outright missing until you dip past terrain. It however is weaker in PvP where it's ground attack capability is often nullified by opposing helicopters and the rampant MANPAD proliferation that is common among Soviet pilots. This makes ground hugging near impossible and ground hugging is what this thing does best.

The OH-6 only has 2 weapons options. One is useful in PvP and the other is amazing in PvE. It starts out with a fixed M134 mini-gun and a small 7 round 70mm hydra rocket pod. The Cayuse in this configuration is only really decent against infantry and is wholly dependent on mortars in order to deal with harder targets like AA emplacements and vehicles of any type. It doesn't carry enough rockets to knock out much more than troop carriers and the mini-gun doesn't have enough punch to kill much as quickly as you would like. Add on the fact the mini-gun is fixed means you limit your maneuverability using it and that honestly handicaps the aircraft. The only real use for this is in PvP where you end up having to fight off other players, in which case a mini-gun is more useful than a grenade launcher.

The second weapons option is powerful in PvE as it carries 40mm grenade launcher in a rotatable ball mount at it's nose, and 14 Hydra 70mm rockets in 2 pods. This configuration means you are now capable of wrecking virtually any ground target, the grenade launcher is ideal for hit-and-run style strafing any ground unit's one can face and the rockets give you that extra punch when you need to take out an entrenched SPAA unit in an enemy encampment. If used in combination with mortars, this little chopper can and will run amok all over the map, knocking out encampments and reaping points off your teammates as you call out anything you missed.

As an extra icing on the cake, this little scout can also carry 1 infantry unit. Which make it extra useful when you want to carry around a MANPAD of your own or even an extra infantry for a last moment base capture.

All-in-all this is a very good little scout. It can do a little of everything and excels at most of it. Once again it must be stressed that this helicopter is not very forgiving to newcomers and a bit of practice beforehand will go a long way to realizing the massive potential of this little machine. Good luck and happy hunting.