Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassau..._%C3%89tendard

The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard (Étendard is French for "battle flag",
cognate to English "standard") is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft
designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy.

The aircraft is an advanced development of the Étendard IVM, which it replaced.
The Super Étendard first flew in October 1974 and entered French service in June
1978. French Super Étendards have served in several conflicts such as the Kosovo
war, the war in Afghanistan and the military intervention in Libya.

The Super Étendard was also operated by Iraq (on a temporary lease) and
Argentina, which both deployed the aircraft during wartime. Argentina's use of
the Super Étendard and the Exocet missile during the 1982 Falklands War led to
the aircraft gaining considerable popular recognition. The Super Étendard was
used by Iraq to attack oil tankers and merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf
during the Iraq-Iran War. In French service, the Super Étendard was replaced by
the Dassault Rafale in 2016.

The Super Étendard is a development of the earlier Étendard IVM which had been
developed in the 1950s. The Étendard IVM was originally to have been replaced by
a navalised version of the SEPECAT Jaguar, designated as the Jaguar M; however
the Jaguar M project was stalled by a combination of political problems and
issues experienced during trial deployments on board carriers. Specifically, the
Jaguar M had suffered handling problems when being flown on a single engine and
a poor throttle response time that made landing back on a carrier after an
engine failure difficult. In 1973, all development work on the Jaguar M was
formally cancelled by the French government. The plane was criticised as its
navalisation was considered an expensive project.

There were several proposed aircraft to replace the Jaguar M, these included the
LTV A-7 Corsair II and the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, Dassault pulled some strings
with the French government and also had its own proposal to meet the
requirement. According to Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, Dassault had played
a significant role in the cancellation of the Jaguar M with the aim of creating
a vacancy for their own proposal – the Super Étendard. The Super Étendard was
essentially an improved version of the existing Étendard IVM, outfitted with a
more powerful engine, a new wing and improved avionics. Dassault sold its plane
as only candidate 100% French and cheaper than other options, as it used modern
technology already used in existing Dassault planes. Dassault's Super Étendard
proposal was accepted by the French Navy in 1973, leading to a series of
prototypes being quickly assembled.

Design

The Super Étendard is a small, single-engined, mid-winged aircraft with an
all-metal structure. Both the wings and tailplane are swept, with the folding
wings having a sweepback of about 45 degrees, while the aircraft is powered by a
non-afterburning SNECMA Atar 8K-50 turbojet with a rating of 49 kN (11,025 lbf).
Its performance was not much better than what the Etendard IV offered, but its
avionics were significantly improved.

The main new weapon of the Super Étendard was the French anti-shipping missile,
the Aérospatiale AM 39 Exocet. The aircraft had a Thomson-CSF Agave radar which,
amongst other functions, was essential to launch the Exocet missile. One of the
major technical advances of the Super Étendard was its onboard UAT-40 central
computer; this managed most mission-critical systems, integrating navigational
data and functions, radar information and display, and weapons targeting and
controls.

In the 1990s, significant modifications and upgrades were made to the type,
including an updated UAT-90 computer and a new Thomson-CSF Anemone radar which
provided nearly double the range of the previous Agave radar. Other upgrades at
this time included an extensively redesigned cockpit with HOTAS controls, and
airframe life-extension work was undertaken; a total of 48 aircraft received
these upgrades, at a rate of 15 per year. During the 2000s, further improvements
included significantly improved self-defence ECM capability to better evade
enemy detection and attacks, cockpit compatibility with night vision goggles, a
new inertial data system partly integrating GPS, and compatibility with the
Damocles Laser designator pod.


Role
Attack aircraft

National origin
France

Manufacturer
Dassault-Breguet

First flight
28 October 1974

Introduction
June 1978

Retired
July 2016 (French Navy)

Status
Currently not in service

Primary users
French Navy (historical)
Argentine Navy (Limited service)
Iraqi Air Force (historical)

Produced
1974–1983

Number built
85

Developed from
Dassault Étendard IV


Argentina

The Argentine Naval Aviation decided to buy 14 Super Étendards in 1979, after
the United States put an arms embargo in place—due to the Dirty War—and refused
to supply spare parts for its A-4Q Skyhawks. Between August and November 1981,
five Super Étendards and five anti-ship sea-skimming Exocet missiles were
shipped to Argentina. The Super Étendards, armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles,
later played a key role in the Falklands War between Argentina and the United
Kingdom in 1982. The 2nd Naval Squadron was stationed at the Río Grande, Tierra
del Fuego naval air base; during the conflict, the threat posed to British naval
forces led to the planning of Operation Mikado and other proposed infiltration
missions to raid the air base, aiming to destroy the Super Étendards to prevent
their use. A total of four Super Étendards were operational during the conflict.

A first attempt to attack the British fleet was made on 2 May 1982, but this was
abandoned due to in-flight-refuelling problems. On 4 May, two Super Étendards,
guided by a Lockheed P-2H Neptune, each launched one Exocet at the British
destroyer HMS Sheffield, with one missile crippling Sheffield. On 25 May,
another attack by two Super Étendards resulted in two missiles hitting the
merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor, which was carrying several helicopters and
other supplies to the front line. The Exocets that struck Atlantic Conveyor had
been inadvertently redirected by decoy chaff deployed as a defensive measure by
other ships; Both Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor sank whilst under tow some
days later following these Exocet strikes. Following the end of the conflict, by
1984 Argentina had received all the 14 Super Étendards ordered, and Exocets with
which to arm them. Super Étendards performed qualifications on aircraft carrier
ARA 25 de Mayo until the ship's final retirement. Since 1993, Argentine pilots
have practised on board the neighbouring Brazilian Navy's aircraft carrier São
Paulo. Touch-and-go landing exercises were also common on US Navy carriers
during Gringo-Gaucho manoeuvres and joint exercises.

France

Deliveries of the Super Étendard to the French Navy started in 1978, with the
first squadron, Flottille 11F becoming operational in February 1979. As they
offered no air combat capabilities France had to extend useful life of its
Crusaders fighters, as no replacement option was found.

In total, three operational squadrons and a training unit were equipped with the
Super Étendard. The Super Étendards would operate from both of France's aircraft
carriers at that time, Clemenceau and Foch; either carrier's air wing typically
comprised 16 Super Étendards, 10 F-8 Crusaders, 3 Étendard IVPs, 7 Breguet Alizé
anti-submarine aircraft, as well as numerous helicopters.

The first fighting operational missions took place in Lebanon during Operation
Olifant. On 22 September 1983, French Navy Super Étendards operating from Foch
bombed and destroyed Syrian forces positions after a few artillery rounds were
fired at the French peace keepers. On November 10, a Super Étendard escaped from
being hit by a Syrian SA-7 shoulder-launched missile near Bourj el-Barajneh
while flying over Druze positions. On 17 November 1983, the same airplanes
attacked and destroyed an Islamic Amal training camp in Baalbeck after a
terrorist attack on French paratroopers in Beirut.

Iraq

A total of five Super Étendards were loaned to Iraq in 1983 while the country
was waiting for deliveries of Agave-equipped Dassault Mirage F1s capable of
launching Exocet missiles that had been ordered; the first of these aircraft
arrived in Iraq on 8 October 1983. The provision of Super Étendards to Iraq was
politically controversial, the United States and Iraq's neighbour Iran were
vocal in their opposition while Saudi Arabia supported the loan; the aircraft
were seen as an influential factor in the 1980–88 Iraq-Iran War as they could
launch Exocet strikes on Iranian merchant shipping traversing the Persian Gulf.
The Super Étendards began maritime operations over Persian Gulf in March 1984; a
total of 34 attacks were carried out on Iranian shipping through the rest of
1984. Tankers of any nationality that were carrying Iranian crude oil were also
subject to Iraqi attacks.

Iraq typically deployed the Super Étendards in pairs, escorted by Mirage F1
fighters from bases in Southern Iraq; once inside the mission zone, the Super
Étendards would search for targets using their onboard radar and engage
suspected tankers at long range without visual identification. While tankers
would typically be struck by a launched Exocet, they were often only lightly
damaged. In April 1984, an Iraqi Super Étendard was claimed to have been shot
down by an Iranian F-4 Phantom II over Kharg Island. Separately, on 26 July and
7 August 1984, claims of Super Étendard losses to Iranian Grumman F-14 Tomcats
were reported. Iran claimed a total of three Super Étendards to have been shot
down by Iranian interceptors; France stated that four of the five leased
aircraft were returned to France in 1985.

Specifications

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 14.31 m (46 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Height: 3.86 m (12 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 28.4 m2 (306 sq ft)
Empty weight: 6,500 kg (14,330 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,455 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Snecma Atar 8K-50 turbojet, 49 kN (11,000 lbf) thrust

Performance
Maximum speed: 1,205 km/h (749 mph, 651 kn)
Range: 1,820 km (1,130 mi, 980 nmi)
Combat range: 850 km (530 mi, 460 nmi) with one AM39 Exocet missile on one wing
pylon and one drop tank on opposite pylon, hi-lo-hi profile
Service ceiling: 13,700 m (44,900 ft)
Rate of climb: 100 m/s (20,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 423 kg/m2 (87 lb/sq ft)
Thrust/weight: 0.42

Armament

Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannons with 125 rounds per gun
Hardpoints: 4× underwing and 2× under-fuselage with a capacity of 2,100 kg
(4,600 lb) maximum,
Rockets: 4× Matra rocket pods with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets each
Missiles:
1× AM-39 Exocet Anti-shipping missile or
1× Air-Sol Moyenne Portée nuclear armed missile or
2× AS-30L or
2× Matra Magic Air-to-air missile

Bombs: Conventional unguided or laser-guided bombs, provision for 1 × AN-52
free-fall nuclear bomb, provision for "buddy" air refuelling pod



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