page_title: Westland Scout
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Westland Scout / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Scout fitted with SS.11 guided missiles, at Coypool, Plymouth.
context_page_description: The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientated Westland Wasp helicopter. The type's primary operator was the Army Air Corps of the British Army, which operated it in several conflict zones including Northern Ireland and the Falklands War.
context_section_description: Behind the two front seats was a three-seat bench, although this could be replaced with a four-seat bench when fitted with modified rear doors. It was used for general light work, including observation, liaison, training and search & rescue. When fitted as a light attack helicopter, it carried either two, skid-mounted, forward-firing machine gun (L8A1 General Purpose Machine Gun) packs or a single pintle-mounted machine gun in the rear cabin. The pintle mount was available in both port and starboard mountings. The gun-packs, which were both aimed at a pre-set convergence angle, carried 200 rounds of ammunition and were mounted on a tubular spar that was fixed between the front and rear undercarriage legs. In the anti-tank role, it could carry four guided missiles (the Nord SS.11). The sighting unit was the AF.120, the result of a joint venture between Avimo and Ferranti, had x2.5 and x10 magnification. The APX Bezu sight unit was also evaluated but rejected, although it was adopted for use on the Westland Wasp. 
  Additional testing and trials were carried out with the Swingfire anti-tank guided missile. Initial firings were carried out in early 1972, to test the "Hawkswing" system for the Westland Lynx, the associated AF.530 gyro-stabilized sight was subsequently trialled in 1974. The Hawkswing system was cancelled in 1975 due to its manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) compared to the semi-automatic (SACLOS) system used by the MILAN missile. In the casualty evacuation role (CASEVAC), the Scout could carry two stretchers internally or two on externally mounted pods, the co-pilot's seat could also be reversed to allow an attendant to face the casualties.
  Although the general design of the aircraft was robust, with an airframe fatigue life of 7,200 hours, the cockpit ergonomics were less than perfect. An example of this was the cabin heater switch being mounted next to the fuel cock; this led to the loss of at least four aircraft when the pilot inadvertently closed the fuel cock instead of switching off the cabin heater, causing the engine to shut down. The autorotational qualities of the Scout have also been described by some pilots as 'startling'. In service trials and testing were carried out by the AAC's Development Wing at Middle Wallop, Hampshire. A wide variety of weapons and equipment were evaluated, although many were never adopted. Amongst these were the 7.62mm General Electric Minigun and the two-inch rocket pod. The rocket pods were mounted either side of the central fuselage section on the multi-spar weapon booms and both smooth tube and fin-stabilised rockets were tested, although the accuracy was described as "indifferent". Studies were also carried out for a pintle-mounted M2 Browning machine gun in place of the standard 7.62 GPMG, and the French AME.621 20mm cannon. Another was the installation of a Bendix R.100 lightweight weather and ground-mapping radar, which had a range of eight and 40 miles. This was mounted behind the fibreglass nose access panel along with a small viewing screen in the cockpit. The radar antenna was moved further forward later in the development to improve downward scanning.
  During the development of the WG.13 Westland Lynx, two Scouts were used as testbeds and fitted with full-scale, composite construction semi-rigid Lynx main rotor heads as the Scout had the nearest size rotor. The first test flight was achieved 31 August 1970. The first prototype MBB BO 105 tested the airframe with Scout main rotor head and blades but it was destroyed due to ground resonance during its initial trials.
  About 150 Scouts were built through 1968, primarily at the Fairey Aviation Division factory at Hayes.
caption: SS.11 equipped Scout of 3 CBAS in 1978
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