sancho
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Yeah, u r right...... afterall, only except the Helina, I think almost all the work is complete on LCH..... I expect them to induct it ASAP enough and go for a mark-2 version with atleast retractable wheels/landing gear... cozz I mean, what the heck, u make a whole helicopter with stealth in mind and miss out on adding retractable landing gear..... Believe it or not, If they before finally releasing the heli manage to get the retractable landing gear, Helina (with the longer range) and a smaller/narrower tail-section, just to decrease the huge side surface area which could easily be its weakest point bcozz of being way too shootable/trackable/targetable (I think I still haven't got the right words... anyways), this could not only make it a success in the International Market but also could mark it as the stealthiest heli in service!!!!!!!!! (Anyone else knows of any other heli designed with stealth in mind other than Comanche and LCH and Kawasaki OH-1???)
The Comanche is the only helicopter with real stealth features, like airframe shapings, internal weaponbays, IR and noise reduction. At the end, all helicopters will be detected in air easily, you just can reduce the RCS to some extend and use low level flight tactics to avoid detection.
Regarding retractable gears, this is not really needed for a combat helicopter and would just increase the costs, without a big advantage. Neither the Apache, nor the Mi 28 have it either.