Air International 1988-02
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Airscene
MiG-29 Fulcrum-A fighters of the Indian Air Force seen at the Poona A FB, western India, during the formal induction ceremony of this type held on 6 December, 1988. Christened Baaz (Falcon) by the IAF, the MiG-29 equips two former MiG-21FL squadrons, No 28 "First Supersonics" and No 47 "Archers".
The AEW&C version of the Il-76, the Mainstay, photographed over the Barents Sea from a Norwegian P-3B Orion.
A provisional drawing of an AEW&C variant of the Antonov An-72 Coaler-C twin-turbofan light STOL transport which has been assigned the reporting name Madcap by NATO. Note the unusual location of the rotodome on top of the vertical tail.
British Aerospace has given some preliminary details of its studies for a Small, Agile Battlefield Aircraft (SABA), on which its Military Aircraft Division has been working at Kingston for the past two years. The study has “identified the need for a light aircraft with excellent STOL performance, heavy firepower and the agility to be able to combat low-altitude, high-performance targets", according to BAe. Among the requirements, in the company’s view, are a rate of turn of 180 deg in five seconds with a minimum radius of turn of 500 ft (152 m) at combat speeds; a transit speed of some 400 kts (740 km/h), with a 1,000-ft (305-m) take-off roll and excellent soft field performance; four-hour loiter performance at low level and a warload of at least six air-to-air missiles and a gun. The primary role is seen as that of intercepting and destroying enemy helicopters crossing the Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) on either close air support or airmobile operations. Several possible SABA configurations have been studied, within the parameters set out above, the “baseline” aircraft being identified as the P1233-1 (illustrated here). This is a low-wing canard type with no tailplane, powered by a 4,500 shp (3 350 kW) Texaco Lycoming T55 or similar turboprop driving an advanced-technology pusher contraprop with 12-18 blades, behind the vertical tail surfaces. With a span of 36 ft (10.97 m) and wing area of 219-5 sq ft (20,39 m2), the P1233-1 has an estimated max takeoff weight of 11.000 lb (4 990 kg). Armament comprises six AIM-132 ASRAAMs plus a 25-mm Aden gun.