China eyes the airline market

China unveils jetliner in bid to compete with Boeing and Airbus

Report from Paul Traynor, Associated Press:

 Comac C919

A state-owned manufacturer has unveiled the first plane produced by a Chinese initiative to compete in the market for large passenger jetliners.

China is one of the biggest aviation markets but relies on Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The multibillion-dollar effort to create the homegrown C919 jetliner is aimed at clawing back some of the commercial benefits that flow to foreign suppliers.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) showed off the first of the twin-engine planes in a ceremony attended by some 4,000 government officials and other guests at a hangar near Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

"It's a major push for the country, as they want to be known as a major player" in airplane manufacturing, said Mavis Toh, Asia air transport editor for Flightglobal magazine.

The C919 is one of several initiatives launched by the ruling Communist Party to transform China from the world's low-cost factory into a creator of profitable technology in aviation, clean energy and other fields.

The C919, which can seat up to 168 passengers, is meant to compete in the market for single-aisle jets dominated by Airbus Industrie's A320 and Boeing Co.'s 737.

Its manufacturer, known as COMAC, says it has received orders from 21 customers for a total of 517 aircraft, mostly from Chinese carriers but also from GE Capital Aviation Services.

A separate state-owned company also has developed a smaller regional jet, the ARJ-21, to compete in the market dominated by Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. The first two ARJ-21s were delivered last year to a Chinese airline:

Most of the C919's critical systems including engines and avionics are being supplied by Western companies or foreign-Chinese joint ventures:

Boeing forecasts China's total demand for civilian jetliners over the next two decades at 5,580 planes worth a total of US$780 billion.

China's major airlines are state-owned, which gives the Communist Party a captive pool of potential customers that can be ordered to buy the C919.

"China offers a terrific market, superb engineering talent and reasonably low costs. Developing a national aircraft industry makes a lot of sense," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis of Teal Group Corp., an industry consultant, in a report in July.

However, the C919 is hampered by official requirements that its manufacturer favour components produced in China, unlike competitors who source parts globally, according to Aboulafia.

"This means Western suppliers need to give away technology to play on this jet," said Aboulafia. "It also means that this aircraft is designed by people whose hands have been tied."

Development of the C919 began in 2008. Plans called for a first flight in 2014 and for it to enter service in 2016, but those targets were pushed back due to production delays. The C919 now is due to fly next year and enter service in about 2019.

One of the biggest components, the core processing and display system, is being supplied by a joint venture between GE Aviation Systems and AVIC, a state-owned Chinese military contractor.

Happy 60th Birthday A-4 Skyhawk! Close to NZ's heart

22 June : Sixty years ago today, the McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk took flight for the first time. 

 A classic of Naval Aviation, the A-4 was an extraordinary aircraft.  The legendary Ed Heinemann created the Skyhawk at one-half of the weight allowed and the type remained in production for over 20 years.  The A-4 became the most impressive conventional bomber of its era, flying like a fighter but capable of bombing targets with great accuracy.  

The Skyhawk was so small that it did not require folding wings for use aboard aircraft carriers.  Skyhawks were the US Navy’s primary light bomber during the early years of the Vietnam War, carrying-out some of the first air strikes during the conflict.  On May 1, 1967, an A-4 became a MiG-killer when Lieutenant Commander Ted Swartz downed a MiG-17 with air-to-ground rockets!  A total of 2,960 Skyhawks were manufactured in a number of variants.  

Significant numbers were exported to other nations and Argentina, Israel, and Kuwait have all employed the A-4 in combat.  The Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron operated the A-4 from 1974 through 1986.  The Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program used the A-4 in an adversary role and the TA-4J model served as the advanced jet trainer until being replaced by the T-45 Goshawk.  The aircraft was affectionately known as “Heinemann’s Hot Rod” and the “Scooter.”

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. Navy's pre-1962 designation system.

The Skyhawk is a lightweight aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg) and has a top speed of more than 600 miles per hour (970 km/h). The aircraft's five hardpoints support a variety of missiles, bombs and other munitions and were capable of delivering nuclear weapons using a low altitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The A-4 was originally powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine; from the A-4E onwards, the Pratt & Whitney J52 was used.

Israeli A4

Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. Fifty years after the aircraft's first flight, some of the nearly 3,000 produced remain in service with several air arms around the world, including from the Brazilian Navy's aircraft carrier, São Paulo.

Skyhawks were the U.S. Navy's primary light attack aircraft used over North Vietnam during the early years of the Vietnam War; they were later supplanted by the A-7 Corsair II in the U.S. Navy light attack role. Skyhawks carried out some of the first air strikes by the US during the conflict, and a Marine Skyhawk is believed to have dropped the last American bombs on the country. Notable naval aviators who flew the Skyhawk included Lieutenant Commanders Everett Alvarez, Jr. and John McCain, and Commander James Stockdale. On 1 May 1967, an A-4C Skyhawk piloted by Lieutenant Commander Theodore R. Swartz of VA-76 aboard the carrier USS Bon Homme Richard, shot down a North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 with an unguided Zuni rocket as the Skyhawk's only air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War.

From 1956 on, Navy Skyhawks were the first aircraft to be deployed outside of the U.S. armed with the AIM-9 Sidewinder. On strike missions, which was the Skyhawk's normal role, the air-to-air armament was for self-defense purposes.

In the early to mid-1960s, standard U.S. Navy A-4B Skyhawk squadrons were assigned to provide daytime fighter protection for anti-submarine warfare aircraft operating from some Essex-class U.S. anti-submarine warfare carriers, these aircraft retained their ground- and sea-attack capabilities. The A-4B model did not have an air-to-air radar, and it required visual identification of targets and guidance from either ships in the fleet or an airborne Grumman E-1 Tracer AEW aircraft. Lightweight and safer to land on smaller decks, Skyhawks would later also play a similar role flying from Australian, Argentinean, and Brazilian upgraded World War II surplus light ASW carriers, which were also unable to operate most large modern fighters.Primary air-to-air armament consisted of the internal 20 mm (.79 in) Colt cannons and ability to carry an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on both underwing hardpoints, later additions of two more underwing hardpoints on some aircraft made for a total capacity of four AAMs.

Specifications (A-4F Skyhawk)

"Top Gun" aggressor unit

Data from Wiki, globalsecurity.org
General characteristics

Crew: one (two in OA-4F, TA-4F, TA-4J)
Length: 40 ft 3 in (12.22 m)
Wingspan: 26 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Height: 15 ft (4.57 m)
Wing area: 259 ft² (24.15 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 0008-1.1-25 root, NACA 0005-0.825-50 tip
Empty weight: 10,450 lb (4,750 kg)
Loaded weight: 18,300 lb (8,318 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 24,500 lb (11,136 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J52-P8A turbojet, 9,300 lbf (41 kN)

Performance
Maximum speed: 585 kn (673 mph, 1,077 km/h)
Range: 1,700 nmi (2,000 mi, 3,220 km)
Combat radius: 625 nmi, 1,158 km ()
Service ceiling: 42,250 ft (12,880 m)
Rate of climb: 8,440 ft/min (43 m/s)
Wing loading: 70.7 lb/ft² (344.4 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.51
g-limit: +8/-3 g

Armament
Guns: 2× 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannon, 100 rounds/gun
Hardpoints: 4× under-wing & 1× under-fuselage pylon stations holding up to 9,900 lb (4,490 kg) of payload
Rockets:
4× LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4× 127 mm Mk 32 Zuni rockets)
Missiles:
Air-to-air missiles:
4× AIM-9 Sidewinder
Air-to-surface missiles:
2× AGM-12 Bullpup
2× AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile
2× AGM-62 Walleye TV-guided glide bomb
2× AGM-65 Maverick
Bombs:
6× Rockeye-II Mark 20 Cluster Bomb Unit (CBU)
6× Rockeye Mark 7/APAM-59 CBU
Mark 80 series of unguided bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs)
B57 nuclear bomb
B61 nuclear bomb
Others:
up to 3× 370 US gallons (1,400 L) Sargent Fletcher drop tanks (pylon stations 2, 3, 4 are wet plumbed) for ferry flight/extended range/loitering time

Avionics
Bendix AN/APN-141 Low altitude radar altimeter (refitted to C and E, standard in the F)

Stewart-Warner AN/APQ-145 Mapping & Ranging radar (mounted on A-4F, also found on A-4E/N/S/SU)

Vietnam Experience:
 The first combat loss of an A-4 occurred on 5 August 1964, when Lieutenant junior grade Alvarez, of VA-144 aboard the USS Constellation, was shot down while attacking enemy torpedo boats in North Vietnam. Alvarez safely ejected after being hit by anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire, and became the first US Naval POW of the war; he was released from being a POW on 12 February 1973. 

The last A-4 loss in the Vietnam War occurred on 26 September 1972, when USMC pilot Captain James P. Walsh, USMC of VMA-211, flying from his land base at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, was hit by ground fire near An Lộc. An Lộc was one of the few remaining hotly contested areas during this time period, and Captain Walsh was providing close air support (CAS) for ground troops in contact (land battle/fire fight) when his A-4 was hit, catching fire, forcing him to eject. Rescue units were sent, but the SAR helicopter was damaged by enemy ground fire, and forced to withdraw. Captain Walsh, after safely ejecting, had landed within NVA (North Vietnamese Army) positions, and had become a POW as soon as his feet had touched the ground. Captain Walsh was the last U.S. Marine to be taken prisoner during the war, and was also released from being a POW on 12 February 1973.

Although the first A-4Es were flown in Vietnam in early 1965, the A-4Cs continued to be used until late 1970. The Seabees of MCB-10 went ashore on 7 May 1965. On 1 June 1965, the Chu Lai Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS) was officially opened with the arrival of eight A-4 Skyhawks from Cubi Point, Philippine Islands. The group landed with the aid of arresting cables, refueled and took off with the aid of JATO, with fuel and bombs to support Marine combat units. The Skyhawks were from Marine Attack Squadron VMA-225 and VMA-311.

On 29 July 1967, the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal was conducting combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. A Zuni rocket misfired, striking an external tank on an A-4. Fuel from the leaking tank caught fire, creating a massive conflagration that burned for hours, killing 134 sailors, and injuring 161. 

During the war, 362 A-4/TA-4F Skyhawks were lost due to all causes. The U.S. Navy lost 271 A-4s, the U.S. Marine Corps lost 81 A-4s and 10 TA-4Fs. A total of 32 A-4s were lost to surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and one A-4 was lost in aerial combat to a MiG-17 on 25 April 1967.

Royal New Zealand Airforce:
In 1970, 14 A-4K aircraft were delivered to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. These were later joined by 10 A-4G Skyhawks from the Royal Australian Navy in 1984; all were converted to A-4K Kahu standard.

The RNZAF withdrew the Skyhawks from service in 2001 and put them in storage awaiting sale. Draken International signed an agreement with the New Zealand government in 2012 to purchase eight A-4Ks and associated equipment for its adversary training services. The buy was later increased to 11 A-4Ks. These were subsequently relocated to the U.S. at Draken's Lakeland Linder Regional Airport facility in Lakeland, Florida. The other A-4K aircraft were given to museums in New Zealand and Australia or sold to individuals or organisation.
The New Zealand Government has not replaced the Skyhawks.

The first of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s former Skyhawk fleet being disassembled at Woodbourne, near Blenheim, as part of the Government’s decision to place some of the aircraft in museums around New Zealand.

NZ6254, a two-seat TA-4K Skyhawk, has had its protective coating removed and was dismantled into its major components ready for movement by Defence Force transport to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram, Christchurch, the birthplace of New Zealand military aviation.

The Museum was very keen to acquire NZ6254 as it was the first Skyhawk to fly in New Zealand following delivery in May 1970 aboard the USS Okinawa. It was also one of two Skyhawks to undertake test-firing of the Maverick air-to-surface missile in 1989, the other aircraft being NZ6205, a single-seat model, which has also been allocated to the Museum. Both aircraft were the prototypes for Project Kahu which resulted in the aircraft fleet receiving a major upgrade to their avionics.

NZ6254 was reassembled at the Museum by the Unit and went on display soon afterwards so that visitors can get the opportunity of seeing the aircraft at close quarters.

Happier days for NZ6205

US Marine Harrier Crashes near Top Gun Naval Airbase (Miramar)

Harrier Crash in California

IMPERIAL, California. - A military fighter jet has crashed in flames in an Imperial, Calif., neighborhood, according to Miramar Naval Air Station.

Officials said the Harrier pilot ejected and landed safely and that although the plane hit houses, there were no casualties on the ground. Three houses have reportedly been destroyed.

"I was pretty close to it," said witness Shaun Penniman, who was out running with his dog when the aircraft went down. "I heard like a pop and a whistle. And right when I looked up is when I saw the pilot eject."

"It felt like a bomb was thrown in the backyard of the house," said Adriana Ramos, 45, whose home is less than a block from the crash scene. "The whole house moved."

Ramos fled with her 4-year-old granddaughter and 10-year-old daughter, who both cried at the sight outside.

Another witness, Jose Santos, was driving nearby and saw the plane flying "really low." Then "it just fell down," he said.

Santos sped toward the crash site. On the way, he saw the pilot who had parachuted to the ground.

"He didn't look like he was injured. He was rolling from side to side," and a police officer and others were helping him, Santos said.

According to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the aircraft was a Third Marine Aircraft Wing AV-8B Harrier that was stationed out of Yuma. The plane went down around 4:20 p.m., local time.

Photos from the scene show a large fire after the crash.

 

This was the second crash in a month of a Harrier jet from the Yuma air base. On May 9, a pilot was able to eject safely before his jet crashed in a remote desert area near the Gila River Indian Community, south of Phoenix. No one was injured.

Dassault Mirage III (Part 2) Progeny: The Cheetah and Kfir

Mirage III Progeny: The Cheetah program


During the early 1980's, the SAAF faced modern Soviet aircraft and weapons in Angola. Being handicapped by a UN arms embargo, the SAAF had to act urgently to improve its capabilities. 
The SAAF never had a large number of combat aircraft to spare. It only had about forty combat-ready 1970's-vintage Mirage F1's. If it was to take them out of service to upgrade them, it had no replacement other than the  even older, 1960's-vintage Mirage III's. These were shorter-ranged, had less powerful engines and obsolete combat systems, and could carry less ordnance. This meant any upgrade would have to be applied first to the older Mirage III's, as they were the only aircraft that could be spared from combat operations for that purpose.

Fortunately, this wasn't a bad choice in the end. Two major aircraft programs had demonstrated what could be done by building on the foundation of the Mirage III, probably one of the most successful proven combat aircraft of it's day. First, Dassault Aviation was by then producing the successor to the Mirage F1, the Mirage 2000, which returned to the delta-wing format of the Mirage III.

Mirage III D

Israel agreed to supply systems and components, and the green light for the Cheetah project was given in the early 1980's. In order to provide a measure of diplomatic and political 'cover' for Israel, it was decided (as with  many South African weapons projects) to claim that it was an purely indigenous development. Despite huge similarity between the Kfir and the Cheetah, officials in on both sides  steadfastly deny that the two aircraft had anything in common. 

The SAAF provided Israel a two-seat Mirage IIID as the prototype air frame for conversion. It was stripped down completely and all components subject to metal fatigue or stress were replaced, effectively returning the air frame new condition. An extended nose cone was fitted, derived from the Kfir TC.2 model, which housed advanced electronic systems, and small canard wings were fitted above the air intakes to improve low-speed handling and angle of attack. (The canards on the D and E model Cheetahs were smaller than those used on the later Cheetah C's, reportedly because it was too difficult to reinforce the fuselage frames in the engine intake area to accommodate the larger units. The Cheetah C's used the same full-size canards as the Kfir; but their air frames were supplied by Israel, as noted below. Presumably they weren't subject to the same limitations as the French-air frame-based Cheetah D's and E's.)

Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), together with several other companies in that country's defense industry, had already produced a series of Mirage derivatives. Israel had purchased Mirage III aircraft from France prior to the Six-Day War of 1967, and had ordered a further 50 Mirage 5's (a simplified version of the Mirage III). However, these were embargoed by France after the conflict. Undaunted, Israel stole the plans to the Mirage III from Switzerland, which was license-manufacturing the aircraft (Swiss engineer, Alfred Frauenknecht, would later be sentenced to 4½ years imprisonment for his collaboration with Israel).

Israel used these plans to develop its own fighters. The first  was the Nesher, almost an exact copy of the Mirage 5 (indeed, it's so exact that some sources suggest IAI actually assembled Mirages, clandestinely supplied in kit form by France, rather than manufactured the Nesher itself). A total of 60 Neshers appear to have been manufactured, most sold to Argentina at the end of the 1970's under the name of Dagger 

These aircraft confronted British forces during the Falklands War. Israel went on to produce the Kfir, a considerably upgraded Mirage derivative with Israeli electronics with a US J79 turbojet engine (As on the F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber, also operated by Israel at the time).

Argentine "Dagger"

The IAI Nammer ("Leopard",  frequently mistranslated as "Tiger") was a fighter aircraft developed in Israel in the late 1980s/1990s as a modernised version of the Kfir for the export market. Although a prototype was built and flown, buyers were not forthcoming and development was ceased. The avionics of the Nammer were those of the cancelled Lavi project.

The Nammer promised an upgrade package for existing Mirage III and Mirage 5 air frames. Two configurations were proposed, one based around re-engining with a General Electric F404, the other around retaining the Mirage's SNECMA Atar engine. Elta EL/M-2011 or EL/M-2032 fire-control radar was to be fitted. The first of these options maximised performance and range, the second maximised the aircraft's air-to-air targeting capability. As development progressed, the Nammer came to be advertised as a new-build aircraft with the EL/M-2032 an integral part of the package, and customers able to choose their preferred engine out of the F404 (or its Volvo derivative, the RM-12), the SNECMA M53, or the Pratt & Whitney PW1120. The design strongly resembled the Kfir C-7,but was easily distinguished by its longer nose and lack of a dorsal air scoop under the tail fin

Details of the weapon and control systems fitted to the Cheetah have never been publicly revealed by the SAAF, but it can probably assumed they were close to or identical to those found on various models of the Kfir. IAI lists them as including, in the latest Kfir version:

The radar used in the Cheetah D and E models (and in the Kfir C.7) was the simple Elta EL/M-2001Bunit. The Cheetah C, the last development of this project, possibly had the much more advanced Elta EL/M-2032 . The Cheetah C's electronic systems were probably on a par with those of the F-16C/D fighter-bombers of the USAF at the time.

The intermediate single-seat Cheetah E model:

Here's the final iteration of the Cheetah, the 'C' model:

The SAAF's two-seat Mirage IIID variants were the first to be converted. This was probably for two reasons. First, and most pragmatically, the two-seat air frames could be most easily spared from operational duties. Second, they were probably urgently needed to replace the worn-out two-seat Buccaneer aircraft in the nuclear strike role (South Africa had six nuclear weapons, developed at the height of its political isolation and military struggle, which were dismantled in the early 1990's). The Buccaneers had not been updated with modern strike systems, which limited their usefulness; so the upgraded Cheetah D's would have been welcome in this role.

Sixteen two-seat Cheetah D's were produced, as well as 16 single-seat Cheetah E's, the latter mostly converted from Mirage IIIEZ air frames (although some were reportedly converted from air frames supplied by Israel, due to a shortage of suitable South African Mirages). All had been delivered by 1991. Finally, 38 Cheetah C's were produced under the auspices of 'Project Tunny'. 
The Cheetah C's were reportedly based on stripped down Kfir air frames supplied by Israel, modified to accept the French Atar engine rather than the US J79.  Most of the SAAF's Mirage III's had been delivered during the 1960's. Some had reached the end of their fatigue lives, and were thus unsuitable for conversion. Others had been lost in accidents, and the Cheetah E conversions had absorbed many of the remainder.

Given these two facts, there would not have been enough usable single-seat Mirage III air frames left in the SAAF inventory to produce 38 Cheetah C's.  one can safely assume that the reports that say Israel supplied the fuselages for the latter is accurate. Apart from the prototype Cheetah D, most of the conversions were carried out in South Africa by Atlas Aircraft Corporation (today part of Denel Aviation), with Israeli technical assistance (which decreased as local industry gained experience and competence).

The C models were delivered from 1993-1995, replacing the Cheetah E's, which were retired. Some of the two-seat Cheetah D's were retained in service as lead-in trainers for the C versions, and to provide a specialist strike function if required. A single experimental Cheetah R version was produced, using a Mirage IIIR2Z airframe, but no other reconnaissance versions were converted, and the Cheetah R did not enter squadron service, being retired soon afterwards. The reconnaissance function was taken over by Cheetah C's fitted with pod-mounted cameras.

The first ACW prototype was tested on the only Cheetah R, and a more evolved model was tested on a two-seat Cheetah D. The latter improved the Cheetah's sustained turn rate by 14%, and permitted maximum takeoff weight to be increased by well over half a ton. It also permitted angles of attack up to 33 degrees at low speeds, with much greater stability, at the expense of a reduction of approximately 5% in the aircraft's maximum supersonic speed. However, for budgetary reasons the SAAF declined to upgrade their Cheetahs with the ACW, and it was never put into production.


If it lost aircraft due to combat or accident  it could not replace them, due the embargo; and it had to keep its combat planes as up-to-date as possible, to ensure they did not become so obsolete that they risked being shot down in large numbers by more advanced enemy aircraft. 

Mirage 2000-5F of the French Air Force

South Africa had friendly ties with Israel, particularly in the military field.  South African technological institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and local defense companies such as Kentron (today Denel Dynamics), Reutech and others, were developing advanced radar and electro-optical detection and guidance systems. The latter companies in particular often collaborated with their Israeli counterparts (up to and including producing Israeli components and systems under license in South Africa). It would therefore be entirely feasible for the advanced combat systems of the Kfir to be 'transplanted' into the Mirage III's of the SAAF, including local assembly and partial production if necessary.

AI Kfir, in US Navy colors under the designation F-21A,

where it served as an adversary aircraft for Dissimilar Air Combat Training

The Cheetah had a considerably more powerful and more economical engine, greatly improved avionics and weapons systems, and a fly-by-wire control system, which rendered it far superior to the Mirage III from which it stemmed. (It's generally accepted that the French Mirage 2000 is roughly comparable, in terms of its overall capability, to contemporary models of the US F-16 Fighting Falcon or the Soviet MiG-29.) The SAAF reasoned that if Dassault could develop the Mirage III into a fully modern warplane, they could do likewise. This was aided by the fact that in the 1970's, South Africa had purchased a license to manufacture the Mirage III and F1, as well as the latter's Atar 09K-50 turbojet engine. All the necessary plans were thus already on hand.



Given that the Cheetah prototype was converted in Israel, it's very interesting to note the proposed IAI Nammer aircraft of the late 1980's. Wikipedia info:




You can't help but notice that the line drawing above is virtually identical to the pictures of the Cheetah C and Kfir 2000 . Also note that the translation of 'Nammer' is the name of a big cat. A co-incidence? Did the prototype' of the Nammer become the prototype SAAF Cheetah C ?  It would certainly have been a good cover story to disguise IAI's involvement with the latter program. 

SAAF Cheetah C in Service Ysterplaat AFB

Pilot friendly advanced "Glass" Cockpit;Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) operation;
Advanced multi-mode Fire Control Radar (FCR) with SAR; State-of-the-art weapons delivery, including Beyond Visual Range missiles; Digital Moving Map (DMM); Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite.


The Israeli lineage of the Cheetah is clearly demonstrated by comparing the aircraft side-by-side. The SAAF Cheetah D, the initial two-seat version of the aircraft:

Kfir TC.2 of the Israeli Air Force:




Note identical extended and slightly downward-sloping nose cones, housing the electronics; the canard wings above the engine air intakes; and the strakes on the nose cone. Note the second curved strake running from the base of the nosecone down and back along the bottom of the fuselage. The Cheetah has an air refueling probe on the starboard side of the cockpit, which is absent from the Kfir TC.2, but an identical probe may be seen on other Kfir models, as shown below. The rear fuselage is different as the Cheetah uses a French Atar engine, while the Kfir uses the US turbojet; but from the engine forward, there's virtually no difference.


And the single-seat Kfir C.7:

Note that both have small strakes at the tip of the nose cone, identical instrument probes beneath it, and an in-flight refueling probe that goes to the starboard air intake, rather than behind the cockpit, as in the later Cheetah C. The Cheetah E also incorporates the Kfir C.7's additional two weapons stations beneath the air intakes. I therefore consider the Cheetah E and the Kfir C.7 to be essentially identical from the engine forward.



      IAI publicity photograph of their Kfir 2000 


The refueling probes are different, but the noses of the two aircraft are, again, almost identical. (Note, too, their similarity to the IAI Nammer mentioned above.) As far as its weapons and electronic systems are concerned, the Cheetah C is the functional equivalent of the Kfir 2000 (also known as the Kfir C.10.

The first sixteen Mirage III's supplied to the SAAF were 'C' model interceptors, with a shorter fuselage than subsequent models - too short to be converted into Cheetah C's, which have a longer fuselage. They could not have been lengthened without a reconstruction so extensive (and expensive) that it would have effectively meant producing a new air frame.

Vinten Vicon 18 Series 601 reconnaissance pod mounted beneath a Cheetah C

Some of the Cheetah D aircraft had been converted from Mirage IIID2Z airframes, which had been delivered with Atar 09K-50 engines in the 1970's. Naturally, they retained these more powerful engines in their Cheetah guise. The remainder of the D's, and the Cheetah E models converted from Mirage IIIE's, retained their 1960's-vintage Atar 09C turbojet engine, as local production of the more powerful Atar 09K-50 (used in the Mirage F1) had proved economically unfeasible - South Africa's technological base was insufficiently advanced to manufacture all of the required components. In any event, due to changing circumstances , the lower-powered Cheetah models would all be retired within a few years.

Efforts were mounted to obtain additional 9K-50 engines to equip the Cheetah C models. The Mirage F1 was operated by a number of other countries, including Jordan, Iraq, Morocco and Qatar, all of whom also purchased armaments from South Africa. It is possible that one or more of those nations made Atar 9K-50 engines available to South Africa in return for arms shipments. The most likely candidate would have been  Iraq.

They bought over 80 Mirage F-1's from France, and, as mentioned above, obtained 100 G5 howitzer cannon from South Africa. (Iraq was engaged in a war with Iran from 1980-1988). 

Since combat operations would naturally impose greatly increased wear on the engines of its aircraft, it could order large numbers of replacement engines without arousing suspicion. I have little doubt that some of these replacements were swapped for South African artillery and/or ammunition - probably at a very favorable 'rate of exchange', because South Africa needed the engines very badly.)

The retirement of the SAAF's Mirage F1 fleet in the 1990's was partly (although by no means exclusively) caused by the need to transplant at least some of their engines into the Cheetah fleet. The surviving F1CZ interceptors were retired in 1992. 

Some of their engines went into the Cheetah C program. The Cheetah D and E versions (which had all entered service by 1992) took over from them until the Cheetah C's were ready. The last of the Mirage F1AZ's were retired in 1997, after all the Cheetah C's had entered service.

Mirage F1

If the Cheetah aircraft had a major weakness, it was their engines. The Atar 9C engines used by Mirage III's were rated at a maximum of 13,240 pounds static thrust with afterburner. The Atar 9K-50 engine of the Mirage F1 was rated at 15,873 pounds static thrust with afterburner, an increase in power of almost 20%. 

The core technology of both these engines was based on the German BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet developed during World War II, and was becoming increasingly dated. Technology that old simply couldn't keep pace with more modern developments. The Atar 9-series turbo jetengines weren't nearly as powerful (or as economical) as the turbofan engines installed in more modern military aircraft such as the F-16 or the MiG-29 (using two Klimov RD-33 turbofans, each rated at 18,285 pounds static thrust with afterburner. Such engines weren't available to South Africa at the time the Cheetah program was developed, so the SAAF had to make do with what it could get.

The Cheetahs used an upgraded wing, offering improved aerodynamic qualities compared to that originally fitted to the Mirage III. The wing design from the Carver program was experimentally adapted to fit the Cheetahs as the Advanced Combat Wing, or ACW. The diagram below shows how more advanced Cheetah wings evolved, from the initial production variant to a final design with missile stations on the wingtips. The ACW was flight-tested, but never entered service. 



The ACW had a fixed, drooped leading edge. An early iteration (Version 2 as shown above) had a simple notch in the leading edge at mid-span, while a later model (Version 3 above) had a much wider slot. This permitted underwing mounting of the SAAF's standard 500-liter (about 132 US gallon) drop tanks, which would otherwise have struck the lowered leading edge. Additional fuel tanks were incorporated into the drooped leading edge, which were claimed to improve the Cheetah's radius of action by almost 100 kilometers (just over 60 miles).

Official and unofficial South African sources claim that the Cheetahs were very successful, and popular with their pilots. Compared to the earlier Mirage III's and F1's, this is probably true. 
The Cheetah C's were  more capable than anything preceding them in the SAAF inventory. In terms of their electronics and weapons systems, they could certainly have matched the 1980's-vintage MiG-23's and -27's, and Sukhoi Su-20/22's, that the SAAF encountered in Angola. 

Due to the lower power of their engines, I don't believe they could have matched the Soviet aircraft in acceleration or top speed. One cannot believe claims from some South African sources that the Cheetah C was comparable in performance to the US F-15 Eagle. 

SAAF Cheetah C over USS Forrest Sherman, Cape Town 2007

Despite its limitations, the Cheetah program was a success, albeit at a very high price. Including all research, development, tooling, purchase and production expenses, and averaging them across the 71 aircraft produced (16 D's, 16 E's, 38 C's and a single R - the latter not entering service), each Cheetah cost South Africa well over twice the price of a brand-new contemporary equivalent (e.g. the Mirage 2000) on the open market. Operating in a sanctions environment, there was no alternative. 

The program updated obsolete third-generation jet combat aircraft to fourth-generation standards as far as their weapons and electronic systems were concerned, and provided the SAAF with an aircraft capable of handling any regional threat at the time. Fortunately, with the end of the Angolan War in the late 1980's, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's, and the end of apartheid in 1994, no more sophisticated threats arose that would have required a more technologically advanced response.

During the 1990's the SAAF found itself in a budgetary crisis. Not surprisingly, the first democratically-elected post-apartheid government prioritized restoring balance to political, economic and social structures Funding was directed largely to such efforts. Furthermore, the military threats facing the country had almost completely evaporated, compared to the days of the Border War and international sanctions, which had driven the Cheetah program from its inception. 

There was no longer a pressing need for combat aircraft, but a need to conserve the SAAF's much more restricted budget. The number of front-line aircraft was therefore slashed. Only one squadron was retained, operating 28 Cheetahs (a mixture of single-seat C's and two-seat D's, all powered by Atar 09K50 engines). The remainder of the Cheetah fleet was retired from SAAF service. A couple were used as development aircraft, but most were placed in storage. Some were later sold to other nations. The last Cheetahs were retired in 2008, and are presently being replaced by 26 Saab Gripen multi-role fighters.

SAAF Saab Gripen fighters

Sadly, these reductions in force and budgetary constraints caused major problems for the SAAF in retaining the services of its highly qualified and skilled pilots. Many of them saw no future for themselves in the new climate of politically correct restructuring, and resigned to pursue more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. Some became mercenary pilots of combat aircraft for other nations and/or organizations, where their superior flying skills and combat experience were greatly appreciated and well compensated. 

The SAAF's budgetary and personnel problems have not abated since. It has been rumoured that only 8 trained pilots for its Saab Gripen fighters remain , down from 30 pilots in 2005 and 20 in 2008. 

The SAAF is presently in the midst of a crisis as far as trained personnel are concerned . . . a very sad situation for a service that only two decades ago boasted pilots equal to, if not better than, those of most first-class air forces, including the USAF. The SAAF will probably never regain the very high standards it had attained by the end of the Border War in the 1980's.

And the sad end of the road for some Cheetahs:

More info on SAAF Mirages:

The Mirage F1 (click to follow links) 3 Parts, including the Border war:
Part 1 History of the F1
Part 2 The Border War: F1s in Combat
Part 3 Combat record and First Hand Account (Arthur Piercy)

(Source Wings and Wiki, other Internet sources. Not for gain, just a fan blog. No copyright infringement intended)

Horten Ho 229 Flying Wing

Horten Ho 229 Flying Wing

Role: Fighter/Bomber
Manufacturer :Gothaer Waggonfabrik
Designer: Horten brothers
First flight: 1 March 1944
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 3

The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (often wrongly called the Gotha Go 229 due to the identity of the chosen manufacturer of the aircraft) was a German prototype fighter/bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik late in World War II. It was the first pure flying wing powered by jet engines.

It was given the personal approval of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and was the only aircraft to come close to meeting his "3×1000" performance requirement of 1943 (see later)

Since the appearance of the B-2 Spirit flying wing stealth bomber in the 1990s, its similarities in role and shape to the Ho 229 has led many to retrospectively describe the Ho 229 as "the first stealth bomber".

 A static reproduction of the only surviving Ho 229 prototype, the Ho 229 V3, in American hands since the end of World War II was later tested by the US military who found the basic shape and paint composition of the mock copy would provide for 20% reduction in detection range against the Chain Home radar of the 1940s, but no significant stealth benefit against most other contemporary radar systems.

Design and development

In the early 1930s, the Horten brothers had become interested in the flying wing design as a method of improving the performance of gliders. The German government was funding glider clubs at the time because production of military and even motorized aircraft was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.
The flying wing layout removes any "unneeded" surfaces and, in theory at least, leads to the lowest possible weight. A wing-only configuration allows for a similarly performing glider with wings that are shorter and thus sturdier, and without the added drag of the fuselage. The result was the Horten H.IV.

In 1943,  Göring issued a request for design proposals to produce a bomber that was capable of carrying a 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) load over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) at 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph); the so-called "3 X 1000 project".

Conventional German bombers could reach Allied command centers in Great Britain, but were suffering devastating losses from Allied fighters. At the time, there was no way to meet these goals — the new Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets could provide the required speed, but had excessive fuel consumption.

The Hortens concluded that the low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals: by reducing the drag, cruise power could be lowered to the point where the range requirement could be met. They put forward their private project, the H.IX, as the basis for the bomber. The Government Air Ministry (Reichs Luftfahrt Ministerium) approved the Horten proposal, but ordered the addition of two 30 mm cannons, as they felt the aircraft would also be useful as a fighter due to its estimated top speed being significantly higher than that of any Allied aircraft.

The H.IX was of mixed construction, with the center pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. The wings were made from two thin, carbon-impregnated plywood panels glued together with a charcoal and sawdust mixture. The wing had a single main spar, penetrated by the jet engine inlets, and a secondary spar used for attaching the elevons. It was designed with a 7g load factor and a 1.8 x safety rating; therefore, the aircraft had a 12.6g ultimate load rating.

The wing's chord/thickness ratio ranged from 15% at the root to 8% at the wingtips. The aircraft utilized retractable tricycle landing gear, with the nose gear on the first two prototypes sourced from a He 177's tail wheel system, with the third prototype using an He 177A main gear wheel rim and tire on its custom-designed nose gear strut work and wheel fork.

A drogue parachute slowed the aircraft upon landing. The pilot sat on a primitive ejection seat. It was originally designed for the BMW 003 jet engine, but that engine was not quite ready and the Junkers Jumo 004 engine was substituted. nd more graceful control of yaw than would a single spoiler system.[1]

The first prototype H.IX V1, an unpowered glider with fixed tricycle landing gear, flew on 1 March 1944. Flight results were very favorable, but there was an accident when the pilot attempted to land without first retracting an instrument-carrying pole extending from the aircraft. The design was taken from the Horten brothers and given to Gothaer Waggonfabrik. The Gotha team made some changes: They added a simple ejection seat, dramatically changed the undercarriage to enable a higher gross weight, changed the jet engine inlets, and added ducting to air-cool the jet engine's outer casing, so as to prevent damage to the wooden wing.

The H.IX V1 was followed in December 1944 by the Junkers Jumo 004-powered second prototype H.IX V2; the BMW 003 engine was preferred, but unavailable. Göring believed in the design and ordered a production series of 40 aircraft from Gothaer Waggonfabrik with the RLM designation Ho 229, even though it had not yet taken to the air under jet power. The first flight of the H.IX V2 was made in Oranienburg on 2 February 1945.

All subsequent test flights and development were done by Gothaer Waggonfabrik. By this time, the Horten brothers were working on a turbojet-powered design for the Amerika Bomber contract competition, and did not attend the first test flight. The test pilot was Leutnant Erwin Ziller. Two further test flights were made between 2 and 18 February 1945. Another test pilot used in the evaluation was Heinz Scheidhauer.

The H.IX V2 reportedly displayed very good handling qualities, with only moderate lateral instability (a typical deficiency of tailless aircraft). While the second flight was equally successful, the undercarriage was damaged by a heavy landing caused by Ziller deploying the brake parachute too early during his landing approach. There are reports that during one of these test flights, the H.IX V2 undertook a simulated "dog-fight" with a Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet fighter and that the H.IX V2 outperformed the Me 262.

Cockpit

Two weeks later, on 18 February 1945, disaster struck during the third test flight. Ziller took off without any problems to perform a series of flight tests. After about 45 minutes, at an altitude of some 800 m, one of the Jumo 004 turbojet engines developed a problem, caught fire and stopped. Ziller was seen to put the aircraft into a dive and pull up several times in an attempt to restart the engine and save the precious prototype.

 Ziller undertook a series of four 360-degree turns with the wings banked 20 degrees. Ziller did not use his radio or eject from the aircraft. He may already have been unconscious as a result of the fumes from the burning engine. The aircraft crashed just outside the boundary of the airfield. Ziller was thrown from the aircraft on impact and died from his injuries two weeks later. The prototype aircraft was completely destroyed.

Despite this setback, the project continued with sustained energy. On 12 March 1945, the Ho 229 was included in the Jäger-Notprogramm (Emergency Fighter Program) for accelerated production of inexpensive "wonder weapons". The prototype workshop was moved to the Gothaer Waggonfabrik (Gotha) in Friedrichroda. In the same month, work commenced on the third prototype, the Ho 229 V3.

The V3 was larger than previous prototypes, the shape being modified in various areas, and it was meant to be a template for the pre-production series Ho 229 A-0 day fighters, of which 20 machines had been ordered. The V3 was meant to be powered by two Jumo 004C engines with 10% greater thrust each than the earlier Jumo 004B production engine used for the Me 262A and Ar 234B, and could carry two MK 108 30mm cannon in the wing roots. Work had also started on the two-seat Ho 229 V4 and Ho 229 V5 night-fighter prototypes, the Ho 229 V6 armament test prototype, and the Ho 229 V7 two-seat trainer.
During the final stages of the war, the U.S. military initiated Operation Paperclip, an effort to capture advanced German weapons research, and keep it out of the hands of advancing Soviet troops.

A Horten glider and the Ho 229 V3, which was undergoing final assembly, were secured for sending to the United States for evaluation. En route, the Ho 229 spent a brief time at RAE Farnborough in the UK while it was considered if British jet engines could be fitted, but the mountings were incompatible due to the available British engines of the time only using centrifugal compressors with their comparatively larger diameter compressor sections, and not the slimmer axial-flow turbojet power plants the Germans were using.

When U.S. troops captured Gotha's Friedrichsroda plant on April 14, 1945, the partly completed Ho 229 V3 was found and transported to the U.S. and, as shown here, was held in storage at NASM's Silver Hill facility.

Survivors
The only surviving Ho 229 airframe, the V3 — and indeed, the only surviving German jet prototype still in existence — is at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Maryland. In December, 2011, the National Air and Space Museum had moved the Ho 229 into the active restoration area of the Garber Restoration Facility and is currently being reviewed for full restoration and display. The center section of the V3 prototype was meant to be moved to the Smithsonian NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in late 2012 to commence a detailed examination of it before starting any serious conservation/restoration efforts

Stealth technology 
After the war, Reimar Horten said he mixed charcoal dust in with the wood glue to absorb electromagnetic waves (radar), which he believed could shield the aircraft from detection by British early warning ground-based radar that operated at 20 to 30 MHz (top end of the HF band), known as Chain Home.
A jet-powered flying wing design such as the Horten Ho 229 will have a smaller radar cross-section than conventional contemporary twin-engine aircraft. This is because the wings blended into the fuselage and there were no large propeller disks or vertical and horizontal tail surfaces to provide a typical identifiable radar signature.

Engineers of the Northrop-Grumman Corporation had long been interested in the Ho 229, and several of them visited the Smithsonian Museum's facility in Silver Hill, Maryland in the early 1980s to study the V3 airframe. A team of engineers from Northrop-Grumman ran electromagnetic tests on the V3's multilayer wooden center-section nose cones. The cones are three quarters of an inch (19 mm) thick and made up of thin sheets of veneer. The team concluded that there was indeed some form of conducting element in the glue, as the radar signal attenuated considerably as it passed through the cone.



Northrop-built reproduction 
In early 2008, Northrop-Grumman paired up television documentary producer Michael Jorgensen, and the National Geographic Channel to produce a documentary to determine whether the Ho 229 was, in fact, the world's first true "stealth" fighter-bomber. Northrop-Grumman built a full-size non-flying reproduction of the V3, constructed to match the aircraft's radar properties. After an expenditure of about US$250,000 and 2,500 man-hours, Northrop's Ho 229 reproduction was tested at the company's classified radar cross-section (RCS) test range at Tejon, California, where it was placed on a 15-meter (50 ft) articulating pole and exposed to electromagnetic energy sources from various angles, using the same three frequencies in the 20–50 MHz range used by the Chain Home in the mid-1940s.



RCS testing showed that a hypothetical Ho 229 approaching the English coast from France flying at 885 kilometres per hour (550 mph) at 15–30 metres (49–98 ft) above the water would have been visible at a distance of 80% that of a Bf 109. This implies a frontal RCS of only 40% that of a Bf 109 at the Chain Home frequencies. The most visible parts of the aircraft were the jet inlets and the cockpit, but caused no return through smaller dimensions than the CH wavelength. Given the high-speed capabilities of the aircraft it would have given the British defences just two and a half minutes to respond, which would not have been enough time. It is believed that, if deployed in great numbers, the Ho 229 could have changed the course of the war.

With testing complete, the reproduction was donated by Northrop-Grumman to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Link to doco on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJzKjtjZnY

The television documentary, Hitler's Stealth Fighter (2009), produced by Myth Merchant Films, featured the Northrop-Grumman full-scale Ho 229 model as well as CGI reconstructions depicting a fictional wartime scenario where Ho 229s were operational in both offensive and defensive roles.

Breaking news June 2014: 

The Smithsonian Institute has started restoration of its Ho 299 (click on text for link and photos)

Data from The Great Book of Fighters:

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.47 m (24 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 16.76 m (55 ft 0 in)
Height: 2.81 m (9 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 50.20 m² (540.35 ft²)
Empty weight: 4,600 kg (10,141 lb)
Loaded weight: 6,912 kg (15,238 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet, 8.7 kN (1,956 lbf) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 977km/h (607 mph) at 12,000 metres (39,000 ft)
Service ceiling: 16,000 m (52,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 22 m/s (4,330 ft/min)
Wing loading: 137.7 kg/m² (28.2 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.26
Armament
Guns: 4 × 30 mm MK 108 cannon
Rockets: R4M rockets
Bombs: 2 × 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) bombs
See also [edit]

Sounces: Internet, Wikipedia, at al