Originally Posted by
alfred_the_great
my only thought is that helicopters tend to travel forward slightly nose down - if the EO/IR device were underneath, would that not be impinged?
No, I don't think that could be the reason. Possibly during takeoff during the phase to build airspeed the nose is pitched a long way down but normally the turret would be stowed for that phase. In normal cruise it would not be a problem at all - the turrets can swing through greater than 180 degrees in pitch.
It seems to me that putting the turret on top of the nose loses a lot of mission possibilities, but gains nothing as far as I can work out.