Hello DS and that was an observant question. The pic, by the way, was of the first turbine powered Crane prototype. I thought I remembered the reason for that fairing, but just to make sure I contacted a retired SA Tehnical Fellow with expertise in avionics, antennas, systems etc. He confirmed that it was a fairing designed to prevent the radar altimeter from seeing the load. There is some irony here as the production Army ships did not include a rad alt.