Alpha Jet

The Alpha Jet is an military apparatus of Franco-German design (Dassault Aviation - Dornier), intended for the drive or with the attacks on the ground. It was built with approximately 500 specimens, used by ten different countries, and equips the Patrouille with France since 1981.

History

Whereas the France and the Germany sought both to replace the Fouga Magister used for the training of their pilots, the manufacturers Dassault Aviation and Dornier approached in 1968 to meet this need. Resulting from the undertaken studies of each side, the first prototype of the Alpha Jet flew away the October 26th 1973.

The France accepted its first planes in 1977 while the Germany, which wished a version of rather attacks on the ground waited until 1978. Equipping the Patrol with France since 1980, the Alpha Jet was built until in 1991 with a little more than 500 specimens (504 or 512 following sources) and was a certain success with export. Today still, the pilots of the French Air force make their training of the piloting of Jet on this machine, at the base of Tours.

The Belgium made evolve/move its specimens by equipping them with a central of inertial navigation coupled with a Récepteur GPS, with a sight head high and a system HOTAS. The Egypt received 2 versions (MS1 and MS2) with a avionics also improved to increase its capacities in attacks on the ground.

Armament

Alpha Jet can be armed with a gun with 27 mm or 30 mm in pod ventral, and carry 2260 kg of offensive load. The system of armament and navigation of the version of combat is effective and precise, and allows a great flexibility in the missions of attack. But this system became obsolete since the appearance of the Mirage 2000 then Rafale.

The planes assigned to the Patrouille of France carry a smoke-producing pod under the fuselage, drifted from the pod gun of the versions of combat.

Versions

Alpha Jet a: version of attack (slightly supersonic, thanks to its pointed nose) (175 specimens for the Germany, some yielded then to the Portugal)
Alpha Jet E: version of drive (303 specimens for 8 countries)
Alpha Jet A+: version with improved avionics (29 specimens converted into Belgium)
Alpha Jet MS1 and MS2: versions of attack with avionics improved for the Egypt

Operators

Germany, Belgium, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Egypt, France, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal, Qatar, Thailand, Togo.

Some specimens are also used in Great Britain for tests of embarked systems, by private operators.

Other characteristics

maximum Fuel: 2.580 liters (with external reservoirs)
Stalling speed: 216 km/h
Speed of approach: 204 km/h
Load factor: +12g/-6,4g
Consumption: 700 to 800 kilos of kerosene per hour

External bonds

the complete card of Alpha Jet on the FAQ of fr.rec.aviation
Alpha Jet on the site of Dassault Aviation
Card and photographs

Random links: