Harbin Z-19


The Harbin Z-19, also called WZ-19, is a Chinese light reconnaissance/attack helicopter developed by Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force and the Ground Force Air Force. It is a specialized combat variant of the Harbin Z-9, which is a licence-built version of the Eurocopter Dauphin.

Design and development

The Z-19 is an upgraded tandem seat version of the Harbin Z-9W, using mechanical components derived from the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin series, as the Z-9 series are licence-built versions of the Dauphin helicopters.
The Z-19 features a fenestron tail, reducing the noise level and therefore allowing it to achieve some level of acoustic stealthiness. The exhausts have also been designed to reduce the infrared signature. The helicopter is equipped with a millimeter wave fire control radar. Unlike most other attack helicopters, it lacks a nose-mounted machine gun or autocannon.
The Z-19 also features armor plating, crash-resistant seats, and a turret with FLIR, TV, and laser rangefinder. It is also equipped with advanced helmet mounted sight, which looks different from that of the CAIC WZ-10.
The general designer of the WZ-19 was Wu Ximing of the 602nd Research Institute, one of the Chinese top scientists involved in the 863 Program, after graduating from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1984. Wu had earlier participated in the designs of the armed version of the transport helicopters Z-8A, Z-11 and WZ-9. He also participated in the development and flight testing of another Chinese attack helicopter, the CAIC WZ-10. At the 9th Zhuhai Airshow held in November 2012, Aviation Industry Corporation of China formally announced the official names of the WZ-10 and WZ-19 at a televised news release conference, with both attack helicopters named after fictional characters in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. WZ-10 is named as Lightning Fire, the nickname of Qin Ming, while WZ-19 is named as Black Whirlwind, the nickname of Li Kui.

Production

Harbin is developing the Z-19, which is expected to function and support with a heavier attack helicopter, the CAIC WZ-10, in the near future. Export variants will be designated WZ-19, but aircraft used in China will be designated Z-19 as WZ is used by the PLAAF for UAVs.

Variants