The position of FLIR and the shape of nose will be different.
It is an honor to witness maturation of the masterpieces of Turkish engineering.
Why do people find this helicopter ugly, I think it is "ok" looking, not so sexy but still more beautiful than russian trashes. I do expect change in the nose accordingly with a different flir, more advanced may be bigger. It looks like a temporary placement but who knows, if it is the final version than still "ok"
This is just a prototype (which has been rushed for some reason) congratz to TAI.. Future is bright!
Honestly, I think that the nose looks good. The faceting and the sharp angles give it a that "stealth" looking vibe. And the FLIR turret seems to be positioned for a much better field of view compared to the one on the AH-64 or on the T-129.
IIRC, people here and on twitter didnt like it because the cannon and the EO Turret seem to be positioned very close and it looks like smoke and gases from the gun could interfere with the operation of the optical sensors.
So why can't they move the gun further away, instead of changing the position of the EO Turret and the nose shape?
Me personally, I think the helicopter DOES look ugly. But not because of the nose. It is a little hard to explain its ugliness, but if i had to point out some "design" ugliness, i'd put it like this:
- It is unusually tall and ofcourse slim also. It looks like one of those extremely tall, thin and black basketball players lol.
- The engine nacelles are ugly. It has "ugly ears".
- And that "hat" with that weird curved shape between the helicopter body and the rotors---- it is huge and i think it looks ugly as hell.
- The cockpit windows dont look nearly as nicely shaped as the ones on the T-129.
- The underside is not flat like on other helicopters. It has a strange boat like shape. Maybe it has something to do with the helicopter being navalized and needing to have some buoyancy. But it looks ugly.
- The anhedral pylons give it a soviet gunship look.
Here is a picture to show what I mean
With all that said, we don't know the design tradeoffs and what optimizations were chosen to arrive at those outcomes. But the helicopter is ugly and it is NOT BECAUSE OF THE NOSE. imho.