OK Guys here ya go.
Paintjobs...The Pavehawks are all painted Euro I with the exception of the old AFSOC birds (55th SOS) and some of the 422 TES birds out of Nellis. Those birds were painted overall gunship grey mainly because that's what AFSOC did with ALL of their birds (Pave Low's, Herks, Gunships). When AFSOC deactivated their one and only Pavehawk unit and thus ended the MH-60G's service in the USAF, the 422 TES was the only unit left that operated grey HH-60G's. BTW, MH-60G's and HH-60G's are one in the same. In fact, the 55th SOS birds were given to various USAF rescue squadrons.
Why do some Euro I painted Pavehawks seem to have a different scheme than others??? Because they do. Your eyes are not playing games on you. When HH-60G's go down to Texas for depot maintenance and SLEP upgrades, they get painted. Sometimes they come back in a little bit different scheme. Most of the colors stay the same (Euro I) but lately it seems like the grey has gotten a little darker. Could it be that they ran out of the old paint??? I don't know. I do know that for the most part they remain painted in the standard Euro I paint scheme. I do know that the same thing happened to some of our HC-130's when they were painted in Euro I and went down to depot. Bottom line is to pick and example and stick with that scheme, or use the painting instructions that came with your kit.
FLIR...all Pavehawks have the mounts for FLIR but the unit is not always installed. For example, my squadron has 6 Pavehawks but only 4 FLIR units. We always have the FLIR installed on the alert bird and the stand-by bird. But we usually don't install it on the other helos. Why?....Because that D$@N!!! FLIR unit is a FOD machine (for those of you who don't know what that means FOD stands for Foreign Object Damage or Debris depending on the usage of the term). The only way the USAF could instal the FLIR so it would have an unobstructed view is under the nose, or else the AR boom (the probe) would block it's view. The problem is that you've really got to be carefull when operating in a rough LZ or you'll ding that nice little piece of equipment all to hell. Remember when the PVT Lynch rescue footage was shown? Remember when the FLIR tape panned right much of the view was suddenly blocked by the AR boom/probe? That's 'cause the Army MH-60K/L's mount their FLIR's differently.
Bendix Radar....All Pavehawks have them. Most are installed on the lower left side of the nose as they were initially installed there. As with all (almost all) USAF aircraft, the HH-60G is/has going/gone through a number of upgrades or SLEPs (Service Life Extension Programs). Remember this when I cover the plume detectors/RHAW gear next. Anyway, the only HH-60G's with the radars positioned in the slightly above center of the nose are some of the 422 TES birds. The 422 TES is a test and evaluation unit at Nellis AFB responsible for testing all/any new sytems for the HH-60G. The upper nose mounted radar WAS supposed to be part of the second planned SLEP, but to date I have not seen any other USAF birds with this mod. That's where the Army has there radar's mounted, and it's probably a better place but say la vee.
Plume detectors...One of the SLEPs involves (among other things) the plume detectors being mounted on the front upper section of the nose, the sides of the gear sponsons, and on the lower to mid rear area of the vertical stab. Again this is to improve missile launch detection for the aircraft's defensive suite.
Sincerely,
Your friendly USAF SAR dude.