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The Western Company[1] Annihilator Stealth is a stealth attack/transport helicopter featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of The Cayo Perico Heist update.
Design
Grand Theft Auto Online
The aircraft resembles the stealth prototype of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, giving the characteristic shape and overall design.
The aircraft is essentially a stealth-modified variant of the Annihilator, sharing a similar profile and layout. The nose and cabin of the aircraft features an angular profile similar to the Akula and a sighting unit in place of the Annihilator's searchlight/camera, as well as folding stub wings and lower undercarriage compartments. The middle section of the fuselage is tall and wide, with the corresponding engine vents, side doors and access steps, as well as a noise reduction rotor-hub on the main rotor. The tail boom features a similar empennage to the regular Annihilator, but the tail rotor is also fitted with a noise reduction rotor-hub and a lower compartment for the tail landing gear. The aircraft is seen with various military markings around the fuselage, including "United States Army" and "Marines" decals on the tail boom and rear doors, respectively.
The interior is similar to the regular Annihilator, with the dials being the same "Flyer" dial set from most basic aircraft. It also shares the same layout as the aforementioned vehicle, the Valkyrie and the Valkyrie MOD.0.
The vehicle can be painted with a primary color for the entire body and a secondary color for part of the nose and the lower surfaces of the fuselage, tail boom and horizontal fins. It uses a set of plain industrial wheels that are similar to the ones from aircraft such as the Cuban 800 and the Velum, albeit with a detail on the center that is different from those of the Titan and the Hydra.
The vehicle is equipped with two Miniguns on the folding stub wings, which resemble 20mm M197 Vulcan gatling guns. It can also have additional stub wings to carry missile pods (if equipped with a secondary weapon).
Current Design Gallery
Performance
Grand Theft Auto Online
Vehicle
The aircraft performs similarly to the regular Annihilator, being slow and heavy to handle, but is generally stable at flight. Similarly to the Annihilator, it has a carrying capacity of two occupants in the cabin and four in the hold, the latter able to rappel down when the helicopter is steady at lower altitudes.
Like most aircraft, the Annihilator Stealth is powered by two turboshaft engines, emitting the same rotor sound as the regular Annihilator and most regular helicopters. However, it has a much quieter sound, barely heard with the radio on and having lesser noise range for other players.
Defense
The Annihilator Stealth's durability is identical to other civilian helicopters, requiring only a single homing rocket to destroy the vehicle or seven explosive rounds from the Heavy Sniper Mk II. Against small arms fire, the Annihilator Stealth will quickly begin to smoke when exposed to constant gunfire and will quickly shut down and lose power to the engines with sufficient damage, being a poor choice against most attack helicopters, such as the Buzzard Attack Chopper and the Savage.
The most notable feature of the vehicle is its stealth mode identical to the Akula, 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 rear passengers during the stealth mode. In addition, cloaking the Annihilator Stealth 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.
Passengers can use the Flare Gun to redirect rockets that are locked on to the Annihilator Stealth, if timed properly, however.
When stealth mode is enabled, it will hide the aircraft from the minimap along with all items carried by the occupants, an ability also shared with the Akula. 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
Like the Akula, the Annihilator features an array of weapons available for use by the pilot:
- Machine Gun: the helicopter is equipped with two .50 caliber Miniguns operated in the same way as in the Akula and 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. 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 damagthe 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 Annihilator Stealth'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.
GTA Online Overview
| Take-Off Speed (0-60 knots in Seconds) |
Top Speed (mph / kmh / knots) |
Vertical Climb/ Descent Rate (ft/min) |
Engine Type | Engine Location | Mass (kg / lbs) |
Fuel Tank Size (litres) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 99 / 160 / 86 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13000 / 28660 | 100 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | Twin turboshaft engines, 4-bladed rotor | Middle | Cannot be observed | Cannot be observed |
 |
Speed | 91.024139% | ||||
| Acceleration | 96.428581% | |||||
| Braking | ||||||
| Agility | 76.145203% | |||||
Modifications
Grand Theft Auto Online
| Category | Modification | Cost | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | No Armor | $1,000 | |
| Armor Upgrade 20% | $7,500 | ||
| Armor Upgrade 40% | $12,000 | ||
| Armor Upgrade 60% | $20,000 | ||
| Armor Upgrade 80% | $35,000 | ||
| Armor Upgrade 100% | $50,000 | ||
| Engine | EMS Upgrade, Level 1 | $9,000 | |
| EMS Upgrade, Level 2 | $12,500 | ||
| EMS Upgrade, Level 3 | $18,000 | ||
| EMS Upgrade, Level 4 | $33,500 | ||
| Handling | Stock Handling | $1,000 | |
| Smooth Handling | $20,000 | ||
| Sport Handling | $27,000 | ||
| Race Handling | $35,000 | ||
| Livery | None | $11,400 | |
| Basic Camo | $18,240 | ||
| Zancudo Camo | $19,380 | ||
| Sprayed Camo | $20,520 | ||
| 3 Color Outline | $21,660 | ||
| 90s Sandbox | $22,800 | ||
| Modern 5 Color | $23,370 | ||
| Arid Theater | $23,939 | ||
| Winter Camo | $24,510 | ||
| Urban Warrior | $25,080 | ||
| Nature Reserve* | $25,650 | ||
| Naval Battle* | $26,220 | ||
| Urban Geometric* | $26,789 | ||
| Coyote Geometric* | $27,360 | ||
| Large Geometric* | $27,930 | ||
| Naval Geometric* | $28,500 | ||
| Desert Fractal* | $29,070 | ||
| Urban Fractal* | $29,639 | ||
| Large Digital* | $30,210 | ||
| Medium Digital* | $30,780 | ||
| Small Digital* | $31,350 | ||
| Respray | Main article: Los Santos Customs/Respray Colors | - | |
| Secondary Weapons | No Secondary Weapons | $700 | |
| Mounted Missile Barrage | $300,000 | ||
| Mounted Homing Missiles | $325,000 | ||
| Sell | Sell Vehicle | ||
Image Gallery
Grand Theft Auto Online
Prominent Appearances in Missions
Grand Theft Auto Online
- Heist Prep: Stealth helicopter - The player will be instructed to steal one from a heavily-secured area, by disabling anti-air defenses.
- The Cayo Perico Heist/Finale - Can be used as the approach vehicle to arrive at one of the two specific drop zones of Cayo Perico.
- Used by attacking enemies in the Kortz Survival and the Quarry Survival.
- The E.C.U Job/Finale - Used by Merryweather Security to escort the target Freight Train.
Locations
Grand Theft Auto Online
- Available for purchase on Warstock Cache & Carry for $3,870,000 or for $2,902,500 after completing the The Cayo Perico Heist as the heist leader and using it as the approach vehicle, provided the player already owns a Hangar.
- It is classed as a Small Aircraft inside the Hangar.
Trivia
- There is a warning in front of the rear doors that reads "EMERGENCY ALLOWAVLE LIMIT: 18000KG". "ALLOWAVLE" is apparently a typo, as it should read "ALLOWABLE".
- Unique to this helicopter, various on-board equipment can be heard beeping when boarding in first-person.
- Despite having retractable landing gear, there are no "Gear Up/Down" displays on the instrument panel.
- The right launcher is slightly offset to the left, relative to the mountings of the stub wing.
- When requesting the Annihilator Stealth through the Interaction Menu, the on-screen message will display the regular helicopter icon instead of the unique one.
Bugs/Glitches
- In Content Creator, the miniguns are not disabled even with the folding stub wings closed, resulting in a bizarre V-shaped firing pattern when using them, also clipping through the cabin. This does not apply to the Akula, as the miniguns are correctly disabled with the folding stub wings closed.
- The same case applies to the enemy helicopter seen in The E.C.U Job finale, which also uses the miniguns without opening the folding stub wings.
See Also
- Annihilator - Standard version.
- Akula - A stealth gunship attack helicopter added in the The Doomsday Heist update for Grand Theft Auto Online.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Not directly referred in game, but based on the Annihilator, a Western Company aircraft. Officially confirmed on the Newswire when on sale during Stunt Week.
- ↑
Seen when parked or when another player is flying an Annhilator Stealth.
