Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jet

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El Alpha Jet es un caza liviano y un jet trainer avanzado, manufacturado por Dornier de Alemania y Dassault Aviation-Dassault-Breguet de Francia.

Tabla de contenidos 1 Historia 1.1 Orígenes 1.2 Servicio extranjero y variantes mejoradas 2 Variantes 3 Usuarios 4 Especificaciones (Alpha Jet) 5 Imágenes 6 Contenido relacionado 7 Aeronaves similares

[editar] Historia

[editar] Orígenes

En los principios de 1960s, las fuerza aéreas europeas comenzaron a considerar sus requerimientos para las siguientes décadas. Así emergió una nueva generación de jet de trainer para reemplazar tales aeronaves clásicas como Lockheed T-33 y Fouga Magister. The two main rivals in this exercise turned out to be the BAe Hawk and the Franco-German Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet.

At the outset, the Alpha Jet had a lead, but the BAe Hawk would prove to be the winner in the race. However, the Alpha Jet has been built in good numbers and served with a number of air forces for several decades.

In the early 1960s, the British and French began a collaboration on development of what was supposed to be a supersonic jet trainer/light attack aircraft. The result of this collaboration, the SEPECAT Jaguar, proved to be an excellent aircraft, but its definition had evolved in the interim, and the type emerged as a full-sized strike fighter, with two-seat variants used for operational conversion to the type.

This left the original requirement unfulfilled and so the French began discussions with West Germany for collaboration. A joint specification was produced in 1968. The trainer was now subsonic, supersonic trainers having proven something of a dead end. A joint development and production agreement was signed in July 1969 which indicated that the two nations would buy 200 machines, each assembled in their own country.

Proposals were generated by three groups of manufacturers:

• Dassault, Breguet and Dornier submitted the "TA501", which had been developed through a merger of the Breguet 126 and Dornier P.375 concepts.
• SNIAS/MBB submitted the "E.650 Eurotrainer".
• VFW-Fokker submitted the "VFT-291".

All the proposals were to be powered by twin SNECMA-Turbomeca Larzac turbofans. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) had insisted that the trainer have two engines after suffering severe attrition from accidents with their single-engine Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.

The Breguet-Dassault-Dornier TA501 was declared the winner of the competition in July 1970, with full development approved in February 1972. Two prototypes were to be built by Dassault in France (that company having bought out Breguet in the meantime) and two were to be built by Dornier in Germany. The first French prototype performed its first flight at Istres on 26 October 1973, with the first German prototype following from Oberpfaffenhofen on 9 January 1974. The remaining two prototypes were in the air before the end of 1974.

The French Air Force (the Armee de l'Air - AdA) decided to use the Alpha Jet primarily as a trainer, and the first production Alpha Jet for the AdA performed its first flight on 4 November 1978. The AdA variant was known as the Alpha Jet E (the "E" standing for Ecole, French for "School") or Alpha Jet Advanced Trainer/Light Attack aircraft. Initial deliveries to the AdA for service trials were in 1978, leading to introduction to line service in May 1979, replacing the Lockheed/Canadair Silver Star T-33 in jet training and the Dassault Mystere IVA in weapons training. 176 production Alpha Jet E machines were delivered up to 1985, not the 200 that had been planned.

The Luftwaffe decided to use the Alpha Jet in the light strike role, preferring to continue flight training in the sunny United States southwest on American trainer types instead of performing training in cloudy Germany. The first production German Alpha Jet performed its first flight on 12 April 1978. It was designated the Alpha Jet A (the "A" standing for Appui Tactique or "Tactical Strike") or Alpha Jet Close Support variant. The Luftwaffe obtained 175 machines up to 1983, with the type replacing the Fiat G91R/3. Although Alpha Jets were built in both France and Germany, manufacture of subassemblies was divided between the two countries, with plants in each country performing final assembly and checkout. The four prototypes remained in service as testbeds, for example evaluating a composite graphite-epoxy wing and improved Larzac engine variants.

The different avionics fit makes French and German Alpha Jets easy to tell apart, with French machines featuring a rounded-off nose and German machines featuring a sharp, pointed nose that gives them a somewhat waspish appearance.

[editar] Servicio extranjero y variantes mejoradas

Considerables ventas al extranjero se han hecho para el Alpha Jet, que estuvo disponible antes que su rival: British Aerospace Hawk trainer. Sin embargo, el Hawk terminó ganando en ventas.

The first major foreign customers were Belgium and Egypt, each performing final assembly of French-configuration Alpha Jet E machines. Belgium ordered 33 aircraft under the designation of Alpha Jet 1B, with assembly by SABCA of Belgium and deliveries in 1978 - 1980.

The Belgian aircraft have been updated by SABCA to Alpha Jet 1B+ configuration, featuring a laser-gyro inertial navigation system with a GPS receiver, a HUD in the front cockpit and a HUD repeater in the rear, a video recorder and other small improvements. The initial 1B+ was redelivered in 2000 and the Alpha Jets are expected to remain in Belgian service until at least 2015.

Egypt ordered 30 aircraft designated Alpha Jet MS1 in the early 1980s. Four complete aircraft were supplied by Dassault, with the other 26 assembled in Egypt from knockdown kits by AOI.

A number of other nations also obtained the Alpha Jet E, including the Ivory Coast (7 aircraft), Morocco (24), Nigeria (24), Qatar (6 Alpha Jet Cs) and Togo (5). All of these machines were from French production except for the 24 Nigerian aircraft, which were obtained from German production. Pictures of Qatari Alpha Jet E machines show them painted in neat brown-and-sand ripple desert camouflage on top and light blue on the bottom, and also featuring an unusual long spine running from the tailfin up to about midwing. The spine may be used to store additional avionics.

The Luftwaffe began to phase out their Alpha Jet A machines in 1992, reserving 45 for lead-in fighter training. 50 were passed on to Portugal, with five of these used as spares hulks. The rest were gradually phased out, with the last leaving service in 1998. In 1999, 25 more were sold to Thailand to replace OV-10 Broncos in the border patrol role, while the British Defense Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA) (now named Qinetiq) obtained 12 as chase planes and flight test platforms. Both the Thais and the British used five of their aircraft as spares hulks.

The Alpha Jets were sold cheaply since they were soaking up funds simply sitting in mothballs, though Fairchild-Dornier got a contract worth $US 43 million to refurbish the machines and provide support to the end users. Apparently 32 more, including two spares hulks, were sold to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), though details are unclear, and three even ended up in private hands, to be used by the "Flying Bulls" flight demonstration team, which operates out of Austria and flies a range of classic aircraft.

In 1980, work began on an "Alternate Close Support" version of the Alpha Jet, featuring a SAGEM ULISS 81 INS, a Thomson-CSF VE-110 HUD, a TMV630 laser rangefinder in a modified nose and a TRT AHV 9 radio altimeter, with all avionics linked through a digital databus. Initial flight was on 9 April 1982. Cameroon obtained 7 (some sources claim 6) and Egypt obtained 15. As with the original Egyptian order for MS1 machines, Dassault provided four such machines under the designation of MS2 and AOI of Egypt assembled the other eleven from knockdown kits.

Hay un número de otras propuestas Alpha Jet que nunca alcanzaron a producirse:

• El Alpha Jet 2, originalmente Alpha Jet NGEA (Nouvelle Generation Appui/Ecole o "New Generation Attack/Training") resultaddo de una aviónica básica del MS2 más la compatibilidad con el avanzado francés Matra Magic 2 AAMs y el más potente Larzac 04-C20 de turbofans reajustado al Luftwaffe Alpha Jet A. Un prototipo voló, presumiblemente una modificación de uno de los originales prototipos Alpha Jet.
• El Alpha Jet 3 Advanced Training System, originally the "Lancier", featured twin cockpit multifunction displays (MFDs) and potential carriage of AGAVE or Anemone radar, a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imager, a laser targeting system and a modern countermeasures suite. A prototype was also flown, again presumably an upgrade of an original Alpha Jet prototype.
• Dassault also proposed a carrier-based trainer, with arresting hook and stronger landing gear, for the French naval air arm, the Aeronavale.

[editar] Variantes

• Alpha Jet A: versión de ataque originalmente usado en Alemania.
• Alpha Jet E: versión trainer originalmente usado en Francia.
• Alpha Jet 2: desarrollo de un Alpha Jet E optimizado para ataques a tierra. La versión fue originalmente llamada Alpha Jet NGAE (Nouvelle Generation Appui/Ecole o "Nueva Generación de Ataque/Training"),
• Alpha Jet MS1: versión ensamblada en Egipto.
• Alpha Jet MS2: versión mejorada con nueva aviónica, con motor actualizado, misiles Magic Air-to-Air, y un cockpit Lancier de cristal.
• Alpha Jet ATS (Sistema Avanzado de Training): versión ajustada con controles multifuncionales y un cockpit de cristal, para entrenar pilotos en el uso de navegación y sistemas de ataque de una aeronave caza de futura generación. Esta versión se llamó Alpha Jet 3 o Lancier.

El argentino FMA IA 63 Pampa se basa en un diseño Alpha Jet.

[editar] Usuarios

• Bélgica (Alpha Jet E)
• Camerún (Alpha Jet MS2)
• Costa de Marfil (Alpha Jet E)
• Egipto (Alpha Jet MS2)
• Egipto (Alpha Jet E)
• Francia (Alpha Jet E)
• Alemania (Alpha Jet A)
• Marruecos (Alpha Jet E)
• Nigeria (Alpha Jet E)
• Portugal (Alpha Jet A former Luftwaffe aircraft)
• Qatar (Alpha Jet E)
• Tailandia (Alpha Jet A former Luftwaffe aircraft)
• Togo (Alpha Jet E)
• Reino Unido (Qinetiq usa Alpha Jet A, aeronave Luftwaffe)

[editar] Especificaciones (Alpha Jet)

• |jet or prop?=jet
• |crew=1 o 2
• |length main=13,23 m
• |length alt=4,9
• |span main=9,11 m
• |height main=4,19 m
• |area main=17,5 m²
• |empty weight main=3.515 kg
• |loaded weight main=5 t
• |max takeoff weight main=8 t
• |engine (jet)=SNECMA/Turbomeca Larzac 04-C6
• |type of jet=turbofan
• |number of jets=2
• |thrust main=13,2 kN
• |max speed main=994 km/h
• |range main=2,780 km
• |ceiling main=13,7 km
• |armamento=
  • 1x 27 mm Mauser BK-27 cannon
  • Más de 2,5 t external stores on five hardpoints, including bombs, Hunting BL755 cluster bomb units, and AGM-65 Maverick, AIM-9 Sidewinder, Matra Magic II missiles

[editar] Imágenes

Alpha Jet usado por la Patrouille de France Team Aerobático

Alpha Jet visto de abajo

Patrouille de France en una vuelta tricolor en Radom Air Show 2005.

[editar] Contenido relacionado

FMA IA 63 Pampa

[editar] Aeronaves similares

• BAE Hawk -
• Aero L-39 Albatros -
• Aero L-59 Super Albatros -
• CASA 101 -
• Aermacchi S-211 -
• Kawasaki T-4 -
• PZL I-22 Iryda