Some Helicopters like Russian Mi-24, UH-60 etx have Stub Wings. What is the role of such wings?
Russian Mi-24
UH-60
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Sign up to join this communitySome Helicopters like Russian Mi-24, UH-60 etx have Stub Wings. What is the role of such wings?
Russian Mi-24
UH-60
In addition to serving as support for weapons, we must have in mind that they're both quite fast for a helicopter - 335 km/h (208 mph) for Mi and 294 km/h (183 mph) for UH. At such speeds, even small wings yield considerable aerodynamic effects, just like in planes. From Wikipedia article we can learn that Mi's wings can provide up to 25% of total lift at speed and important stability to counter tendency to Dutch Roll.
Curiously, both mentioned platforms exist in wingless configuration. For UH-60 it's quite common, while Mi-24 had it's wings removed for breaking records. This hints that Mi-24 is much more dependent on it's wings than UH-60.
They're used for hanging munitions, external stores, etc. on. You can see in the picture of the Mi-24 that it has several rocket pods attached. They're referred to as "hardpoints" or "pylons".
I'm guessing that the reasons the pylons hang down from horizontal wings, rather than being attached more directly to the helicopter include: