Akula

"Once upon a time, a blank radar screen meant you could relax. But times change. With the Akula in town, a blank radar screen probably means you're a few seconds away from being vaporized by a cackling sociopath in an attack helicopter. And there's only one way to make sure you're on the right side of that brave new world... Please note: This aircraft is excluded from Pegasus Lifestyle Management and must be stored in a personal hangar."

- Warstock Cache & Carry description.

The Buckingham Akula is a stealth gunship attack helicopter featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of The Doomsday Heist update.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The Akula is seemingly based on the, with a canopy that combines aspects of the (front windows) and the  (side windows). The tail setup is very similar to that of the FH-1 Hunter, but the rearranged fins makes it similar to that of the. The tail structure is also similar to the one from the and the aforementioned Comanche.

The helicopter is depicted with a long and narrow fuselage, having an angular nose with the sighting device on the end and a large cabin with two top-hinged doors for access, as well as circular lamps on either side and the corresponding hatches for the main landing gear. The middle section of the aircraft is rather large and features various intakes and vents around the engine compartment, along with the folding stub wings on the lower sides. The tail boom and empennage are narrower in comparison to the rest of the helicopter, having the corresponding stabilizers, fenestron tail rotor and tall vertical stabilizer, as well as a dedicated compartment for the tail landing gear. Being of Russian origin, the Akula features various markings similar to that of the V-65 Molotok, including "RF1 АКУЛА" markings on the tail boom.

The interior of the aircraft is similar to the one from the FH-1 Hunter, having various green screens with animated "Lazer" displays and numerous switches around, as well as circular lens that are part of the sighting device on the nose. The occupants sit in a sedan-like layout, where the pilot and the copilot sit in the front row and the passengers in the rear one.

The primary colour of the aircraft is applied on most of the body, while the secondary one is applied on part of the nose, the sighting device, the front turret, the rotor hub, the lower surfaces of the fuselage and tail fins, and the main gear frames. It uses the same wheel design as the Hunter, being industrial wheels derived from vehicles like the Mule, the Benson and the Phantom.

The vehicle is equipped with two three-barreled Miniguns on the folding stub wings and a single three-barreled Minigun turret under the nose, which resemble gatling guns. It can also have a second Minigun on the nose turret and additional stub wings to carry missile pods (if equipped with a secondary weapon), as well as bombs.

Vehicle
The helicopter is relatively fast, agile, and has similar handling to the FH-1 Hunter. According to Rockstar Games Social Club, the Akula currently holds the fastest acceleration and best agility records, however it is still barely surpassed by the Volatus in top speed. Handling wise, the Akula is extremely responsive, requiring minor inputs to smoothly control the aircraft. The Akula has the unique ability to perform an aileron roll, if either roll input is held while maintaining significant forward momentum. If the roll is not completed, the helicopter may begin falling out of the sky if the pilot does not recover.

The vehicle features two cameras with three vision modes: regular, thermal vision or night vision, which can be operated by the two rear passengers. While the Akula's weapons cannot be used while in stealth mode, the cameras can still be operated, allowing the operators to spot targets for the pilot.

The Savage is powered by twin turboshaft engines, which share the same engine and rotor sound as the Savage, the Buzzard and its Attack variant, appearing to be a higher-pitched variation of the one from the Maverick, with a slightly faster pacing.

Defense
The Akula serves as a versatile transport helicopter with strong armour and superior maneuverability, allowing it to evade threats such as homing rockets, which can also be outrun by the Akula's very high speed. With maximum armour upgrades, the helicopter will take eighteen Heavy Sniper rounds before exploding and can withstand five explosive rounds from the Heavy Sniper Mk II. The helicopter can survive two direct hits to the fuselage from homing missiles and a third one will destroy it. The helicopter's lock-on "hit box" is midway down the tail of the helicopter. This can make avoiding missiles while flying straight forward more difficult, compared to if it was centered on the engine of the aircraft. In addition, just like the Hunter, the Akula's rotor blades have a separate health pool. This potentially allows the Akula to survive up to four missiles, if two hit the helicopter's blades and two hit its main body.

The most notable feature of the vehicle is its stealth mode, which allows the entire crew to navigate around the map without being spotted by enemy radars, making it useful for surprise attacks and getaways. Enabling stealth mode also reduces the pilot's wanted level to 2 stars if the pilot has 3 or more stars. However, its weapons are disabled for the pilot and the copilot during the stealth mode. In addition, cloaking the Akula does not protect it from a Galaxy Super Yacht's defense system, the Weazel News TV spectator channel or being spotted by the Orbital Cannon surveillance system. Also, most homing weapons are still able to lock onto it. Combined with the Lack of countermeasures, the Pilot must be careful or skillful enough to dodge enemy missiles.

When stealth mode is enabled, it will hide the aircraft from the minimap along with all items carried by the occupants. These include:
 * Biker Business Supplies, Gunrunning Supplies, Special Cargo, Air Freight Cargo, Heist Prep Equipment.
 * Dead Drop and Hot Property briefcase/package.
 * Hostile Takeover briefcase.

Weaponry
Similar to the Hunter, the Akula features an array of weapons available for use by the pilot and the co-pilot/first officer:


 * Machine Gun/Dual MG: the vehicle is equipped with a single .50 caliber Minigun turret, which can be operated by the co-pilot and switches to a camera view similar to the Valkyrie and the FH-1 Hunter. While aiming coverage is good, the turret is not stabilized like the aforementioned helicopters. As a result, the gunner's aim will be disrupted by the pilot maneuvering the aircraft. By default comes with only a single gun, but can be upgraded with dual guns for a higher fire rate.
 * Machine Gun: the helicopter is equipped with two .50 caliber Miniguns operated in the same way as in the Buzzard Attack Chopper, having longer range, but suffering a significantly reduced firing rate. While the bullets individually deal the same damage, the slower firing rate significantly reduces the overall damage output. This, paired with the unsteady nature of the Akula's handling, makes using these weapons difficult unless when dogfighting another helicopter. When not in stealth, the wings are opened up to align the guns and when entering stealth mode, the wings will fold back to the vehicle. If the wings are damaged enough, they will start dangling and the helicopter cannot enable/disable stealth mode.
 * Unlike most aircraft, the player must choose to equip either barrage missiles (technically rockets) or homing missiles;
 * Missiles (Barrage): The barrage missile pods behave similarly to those of the FH-1 Hunter, sharing the same range and damage, but also the smaller blast radius. However, the Akula can only fire up to four missiles in a barrage, compared to the Hunter's seven. After firing a full volley, the pilot must wait for a short cooldown. If a full barrage is not fired, the pilot must either switch weapons or fire the remaining missiles before the "reload" cooldown is triggered.
 * Missiles (Homing): Functioning much like most other homing missiles in most regards, these anti-vehicle weapons also have no "reload" cooldown (unlike the FH-1 Hunter, Savage, or Pyro). In addition, the Akula's homing missiles have the same missile tracking as the Homing Launcher, making them more likely to hit their target but at the cost of a shorter lock-on range. The homing missiles can lock on to targets even while the Akula is in stealth mode, making surprise attacks easier.


 * The vehicle has the option for installing bombs, providing heavy firepower against ground targets. There are four different Bomb choices: Explosive, Incendiary, Gas and Cluster;
 * The Explosive option has high damage over targets from all ranges, meaning any target caught in the "edges" of the blast radius receive the same damage as in the "center".
 * The Incendiary option creates a trail of fire similar to the Molotov Cocktail, burning the targets for a constant damage. Although the bombs are powerful at the center, it causes less damage on the "edges".
 * The Gas option causes a noxious effect on players and NPCs on impact, similar to the Tear Gas. It has a slightly larger blast radius than the standard bomb, but is unable to damage vehicles. The gas lasts for around 25 seconds.
 * The Cluster option creates a smaller explosion than the standard one on impact, but small clusters spread within its radius, allowing for greater damage over a single armored target.

GTA Online Overview
Akula=

Miniguns=

Rocket Launchers=

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * * Denotes items that can only be unlocked for purchase via research in the Bunker property.

Doomsday Heist

 * The vehicle appears in the preparation mission "Akula", where it must be stolen after acquiring its flight data.
 * It is later used in the setup mission "Server Farm", used by the crew to infiltrate the NOOSE Headquarters and escape later on.
 * One is provided in the setup mission "Rescue Agent 14", used as getaway vehicles for the crew and Agent 14. If there are more than two players, two Akulas are provided.
 * Several Akulas can be seen in the Doomsday Heist Act III finale, The Doomsday Scenario, attempting to defend Avon Hertz.

Adversary Modes

 * Air Quota (vehicle list 2)

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Available for purchase on Warstock Cache & Carry for $3,704,050 or $2,785,000 (trade price after completing the Server Farm setup mission as the heist leader). This will require a Facility and a Hangar.
 * It is classed as a Medium vehicle.

General

 * "Akula" (АКУЛА) means "shark" in Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages. This might be a reference to Ka-50's nickname 'Black Shark'.
 * The Akula does not feature any non-aesthetic physical instruments (that display real information), but the pilot can see the airspeed and altitude on the pilot's helmet HUD in first-person view.
 * The lights have a road legal cut off pattern, much like a car's headlights, indicating reused textures from some sort of vehicle.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Although the Akula lacks a manufacturer in-game, the patch notes from the Rockstar Support page states it is manufactured by Buckingham. This is peculiar, considering that Buckingham is a British company and the Akula is a Russian helicopter.
 * A  node named " " is present on the Akula's model, suggesting that countermeasures had been included during internal tests but never made it into the game.
 * Contrary to what one would expect from a Fenestron tail (which should protect the tail rotor from solid structures), the tail rotor can be still broken if the player scratches the tail with the ground.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Camera functions in the Akula would not properly work for the passengers even if they are not in stealth mode. This was corrected in the After Hours update.
 * Installing the dual .50 cal miniguns prevents the homing missiles to lock on to targets. This was corrected in the Arena War update.

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