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The Alpha Jet is a light attack and advanced trainer aircraft manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France.
History
Origins
In the early 1960s, various European air forces began to consider their requirements for the coming decades. One of the results was the emergence of a new generation of jet trainers to replace such classic aircraft as the Lockheed T-33 and 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 bit of a lead, but the 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 originally supposed to be a supersonic jet trainer/light attack aircraft. The end 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 the French began discussions with West Germany for collaboration on the effort. A joint specification was produced in 1968 - the trainer was now subsonic, supersonic trainers having proven something of a dead end - and a joint development and production agreement was signed in July 1969. The joint agreement indicated that each of 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 initial 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'Aire - AdA) decided to use the Alpha Jet primarily as a trainer, and the first production Alpha Jet for the AdA performed its initial 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 initial 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 partitioned 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.
Foreign service and improved variants
Considerable foreign sales were expected for the Alpha Jet, with the type becoming available before its main rival, the British Aerospace Hawk trainer and light strike aircraft. However, the Hawk ended up winning the competition without argument.
The first major foreign customers were Belgium and Egypt, with both countries 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. They have been used, at least informally, for public flight demonstrations, in flashy color schemes.
The survivors 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; it is unclear if any other Alpha Jets have this feature.
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) 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 at a rock-bottom price 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.
There were a number of other Alpha Jet proposals that never reached production:
- The Alpha Jet 2, originally the Alpha Jet NGEA (Nouvelle Generation Appui/Ecole or "New Generation Attack/Training") featured the basic avionics of the MS2 plus compatibility with the advanced French Matra Magic 2 AAMs and the more powerful Larzac 04-C20 turbofans refitted to Luftwaffe Alpha Jet A machines. A prototype was flown, presumably a modification of one of the original Alpha Jet prototypes.
- The 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.
Variants
- Alpha Jet A: Attack version originally used by Germany.
- Alpha Jet E: Trainer version originally used by France.
- Alpha Jet 2: Development of the Alpha Jet E optimized for ground attack. (This version was originally named the Alpha Jet NGAE (Nouvelle Generation Appui/Ecole or "New Generation Attack/Training"),
- Alpha Jet MS1: Close support-capable version assembled in Egypt.
- Alpha Jet MS2: Improved version with new avionics, an uprated engine, Magic Air-to-Air missiles, and a Lancier glass cockpit.
- Alpha Jet ATS (Advanced Training System): A version fitted with multi-functional controls and a glass cockpit that will train pilots in the use of navigation and attack systems of the latest and future generation fighter aircraft. This version was also called the Alpha Jet 3 or Lancier.
The Argentinian FMA IA-63 Pampa is also based on the Alpha Jet design.
Users
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: one or two
- Length: 13.23 m (43 ft 4.9 in) including probe
- Wingspan: 9.11 m (29ft 10.75 in)
- Height: 4.19 m (13 ft 9 in)
- Wing area: m² ( ft²)
- Empty: 3,515 kg (7,749 lb)
- Loaded: kg ( lb)
- Maximum takeoff: 8,000 kg (17,637 lb)
- Powerplant: 2x SNECMA/Turbomeca Larzac 04-C6 turbofans, 13.2 kN (2,976 lb) dry thrust each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 994 km/h (621 mph)
- Range: 2,780 km (1,738 miles)
- Service ceiling: 13,700 m (50,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
- Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
- Thrust/Weight:
Armament
Related content
Related development:
FMA IA-63 Pampa
Comparable aircraft:
BAE Hawk -
Aero L-39 Albatros -
CASA 101 -
Aermacchi S-211
Designation sequence:
The initial version of this article was based on a public domain article from Greg Goebel's Vectorsite.
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