History and Tech Specifications

The 2.75 inch Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) was originally developed by the U.S. Navy for use as a free-flight aerial rocket in the late 1940s. The 2.75 inch rocket system has a rich history of providing close air support to ground forces from about 20 different firing platforms, both fixed-wing and armed helicopters, by all U.S. armed services. The family of Hydra 70 (70mm) 2.75 inch rockets perform a variety of functions. The unitary and cargo warheads are used for anti-materiel, anti-personnel, and suppression missions. The Hydra 70 family of Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) also includes smoke screening, illumination, and training warheads.

Warheads

M151 High Explosive. The M151 HE is an antipersonnel, antimateriel warhead and is traditionally referred to as the "10 Pounder." The bursting radius is 10 meters; however, high velocity fragments can produce a lethality radius in excess of 50 meters.

M261 High-Explosive Multipurpose Submunition. The MPSM warhead provides improved lethality against light armor, wheeled vehicles, materiel, and personnel. It has a plastic nose cone assembly, an aluminum warhead case, an integral fuze, an expulsion charge, and nine M73 submunitions. The primary warhead fuze, M439, is remotely set to for range settings (time of flight) from 500 meters to approximately 7,000 meters.

M278 Illumination. The M278 illumination warhead provides one million candlepower for 100 seconds or more. It can illuminate an area in excess of 1 square kilometer at optimum height. A deployed main parachute descent is approximately 15 feet per second. The integral fuze provides a standoff range of approximately 3,000 meters.

The Sets

Black Ops Models continues to focus on US Special Operations helicopters and accessories for them in their latest two releases. These are the M260 7-shot and M261 19-shot FFAR Rocket Pods. These pods are used on not just Special Operations aircraft, but most US Army helicopters. On Special Ops Aircraft, specifically the AH-6 Little Bird and MH-60L DAP Black Hawk, they are usually seen on one side of the helicopter with a gun of varying caliber and type on the other side. Occasionally they are also mounted on both sides in tandem with M134 miniguns (specifically the M260 on AH-6 LittleBirds). The sets are very nice with crisply molded main rocket pods and separate end caps. These main pieces are very nicely molded with deep cavities for the missile noses at the front and very nicely molded retaining clasps on the rear end caps. There are only small pour stubs to remove with no bubbles, holes or blemishes of any type. The rest of the sets are made up of trees of three types of rocket warheads. The warheads are also very nicely molded with very fine details.

Each set contains the following:

1x Rocket Pod Body
1x End Cap
M151 warheads (10x for M260 and 20x for M261)
M261 warheads long (10x for M260 and 20x for M261)
M261 warheads short (10x for M260 and 20x for M261)
M278 illumination rounds (10x for M260 and 20x for M261)

Conclusion

These are very useful sets for any 1/35 modern helicopter and will improve details greatly over plastic versions of the same. Also, this is the first time I have seen separate warheads to be used on them. The overall level of details is very impressive with all the various screws and attachment points for the cabling on the pods present.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.