Is the Sparrow the most useful helicopter in GTA Online after Criminal Enterprises DLC?

GTA Online's The Criminal Enterprises update has finally been released, adding tons of new vehicles and making major gameplay changes. The open world of Los Santos is filled with a large variety of vehicles, ranging from off-road vehicles to aircraft.

The Sparrow is one such vehicle that players adore due to its speed and agility. This vehicle is a helicopter that was added to the game with The Cayo Perico Heist update. However, the recent summer DLC has made the vehicle more useful than before.

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Everything players should know about the Sparrow: Price, performance, and more

The Sparrow is a light helicopter inspired heavily by the real-life Sikorsky S-300, with the engine design of the Aérospatiale Alouette II.

The vehicle boasts the same features and design as the Sea Sparrow that already exists in the game. However, here are a few notable changes made to its visual appearance:

• More vertically aligned skid struts
• Fully black colored blades
• Silver circular details on the engine bay

It also uses a small instrument panel with the same layout as the Buzzard in the game. This helicopter always spawns with a light grey-colored body and black-colored small fins of the stabilizers. However, players can always respray both these colors at the Moon Pool workshop in GTA Online.

On the performance side, the helicopter is powered by a single turboshaft engine, producing the same rotor sound as the Sea Sparrow. Due to its reduced weight and small size, the vehicle boasts immense agility, sharing similar characteristics with the Buzzard. Its stable handling allows players to perform quick maneuvers with little effort, whenever required.

Although the Sea Sparrow can land on water, the Sparrow is unable to do that, but can still hover above water like most helicopters in the game. Much like its sea counterpart, this vehicle doesn’t have any kind of armor or protection.

Despite these drawbacks, the vehicle can still be equipped with one of two different kinds of pilot-oriented weapons:

• Missiles – A missile launcher provides heavy firepower against rival players, vehicles, and NPCs with no cooldown timer for reloading.
• Minigun – A 3-barreled .50 caliber minigun that has the capability of providing moderate firepower with a high fire rate.

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The Criminal Enterprises update made the Sparrow more useful in GTA Online

The Sparrow has always been one of the best helicopter choices for players in their daily hustle in GTA Online. Up until now, the vehicle didn’t have any countermeasures available. The recent update, released on July 26, 2022, has now added the ability to get the vehicle equipped with two countermeasures, improving its defensive capabilities.

Here are the two defensive measures available for the Sparrow, when being customized in the Kosatka:

• Flares – It drops flares behind the helicopter and disorients any homing missile coming towards it. There’s a delay of 3 seconds after using it once and can only be used 20 times in total.
• Chaff – It disrupts other vehicles’ targeting systems and avoids getting hit by missile launchers. It renders them unable to lock onto it for five seconds.

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Furthermore, the addition of countermeasures to this vehicle has certainly boosted its performance, allowing players to use the helicopter more freely and effectively. Clearly, Rockstar has done a great job in implementing these changes by listening to community feedback. With more yet to arrive in GTA Online as part of the update, fans of the online multiplayer game can definitely look forward to this summer.