The Russian Navy is modernizing the remaining Be-12 Chaika flying boats. This aircraft is considered the oldest among all aircraft in service with the Russian Navy. The amphibious aircraft, created in Taganrog at the famous Beriev Design Bureau, first took to the skies back in 1960, and the last serial Be-12 was produced in 1973. After modernization and installation of new equipment, Chaika will become an effective submarine hunter.
In total, over the years of serial production in Taganrog, they managed to assemble 143 Be-12 amphibious aircraft. At the start of production, the Soviet Seagull was the largest mass-produced flying boat in the world. From the very beginning of its service, the main task of the Be-12 aircraft was to search for enemy submarines and fight against them. In addition to the anti-submarine, fire and search and rescue versions of the "Chaika" were also produced. At the same time, some of the amphibious aircraft were converted into a version of the Be-12SK (designation of the theme "Scalp"), such aircraft could carry on board an underwater nuclear charge 5F48, which is an unguided parachute bomb that could reach any enemy submarine at a depth of 500 meters …
Modernization of Be-12 amphibious aircraft
The fact that the Be-12 amphibious aircraft remaining in service was awaiting modernization, it became known back in January 2018, when the first reports appeared about the start of work on the tactical and technical assignment necessary to start R&D to update the complex of on-board equipment of flying boats. At the same time, it was reported that all Be-12s will be radically updated and will receive three modern complexes for obtaining reconnaissance information about enemy submarines: radar, hydroacoustic and magnetosensitive (detection of submarines by the magnetic field of the ship). It was also reported that the arsenal of depth charges and anti-submarine torpedoes used by amphibious aircraft will be expanded.
After modernization, the updated Be-12 aircraft will be able not only to hunt, but also to monitor enemy submarines for a long time. In addition to the new hydroacoustic complex, radar stations, sensors and a magnetic anomaly detector, it is possible that the modern Hephaestus airborne sighting and navigation system will appear on board the Chaeks. According to Izvestia journalists, it is planned to equip modernized versions of Tu-142 long-range anti-submarine aircraft with such a complex. In general, at present, Russian anti-submarine naval aviation is undergoing modernization: the Il-38 is being upgraded to the Il-38N version, and the Tu-142 to the Tu-142M3M version. The modernization of the Be-12 Chaika flying boats, which remain in service, also fits into this concept, for which there will also be a niche, especially considering the fact that the Russian fleet does not receive new amphibious aircraft at all. Today, the Be-12 is the only representative of this class of naval aviation that remains in service.
According to Admiral Valentin Selivanov, the former chief of the General Staff of the Navy, upgrading the equipment on board the Be-12 amphibious aircraft will provide this veteran of the Navy with a second life. At the same time, the admiral believes that in addition to new onboard equipment and means of detecting submarines, the aircraft will also need new aircraft engines. In an interview with Izvestia, the admiral said that such a modernization of veteran aircraft is fully justified, since aircraft are able to search for enemy submarines much more efficiently and faster than ships. In just 2-3 hours of flight, a flying boat can explore half of the Black or Baltic Seas, while anti-submarine ships would take two or three days for this. According to the admiral, based on the flight range of the Chaika amphibious aircraft, they could be used especially effectively in the waters of the Black, Baltic, Barents and Japan Seas. Based on the tactical capabilities of the aircraft and its locations, it can be assumed that the main task of the Be-12 will be the search for modern diesel-electric boats of a potential enemy, while the Tu-142 aircraft will better cope with the search for nuclear submarines.
Opportunities of the veteran aircraft Be-12 "Chaika"
The aircraft, developed in the second half of the 1950s, remains in service in 2019 for a reason. Over the years of operation, the Be-12 amphibious aircraft has shown itself to be an unpretentious, reliable and easy-to-operate aircraft, which was equally actively used in the northern and southern seas. Back in the 1960s, this aircraft was based in Egypt, where, together with the 5th squadron of ships of the USSR Navy, it patrolled the Mediterranean Sea. So the plane can be used not only in the border seas. Theoretically, the Be-12 will be able to return to the Mediterranean in the future, but the aircraft will be based in the Syrian port of Tartus, where a permanent base for the Russian Navy is being created.
The Be-12 is a classic vysokoplane, which received the wing of the "Seagull", which, most likely, gave the name to the aircraft. Such a wing has a characteristic kink, familiar to many from the pre-war I-153 one and a half-plane fighter or the no less famous German Ju-87 dive bomber. At the same time, the Be-12 is currently one of the relatively late representatives of the "gull-wing" aircraft. The designers settled on this wing shape purely for practical reasons, in order to remove the turboprop engines as high as possible from the water surface and prevent them from being flooded with water. This is especially important for amphibious aircraft that land and take off from the water.
The body of the aircraft, especially in its lower part, is very similar to ship lines. The bottom of a flying boat Be-12 has a keel. This makes it easier for the aircraft to take off and land from the sea surface, and also provides a certain level of seaworthiness, which is also facilitated by the fact that 8 out of 10 aircraft compartments are waterproof. In extraordinary circumstances, the operation of the "Chaika" is allowed when the sea is roughly 3 points, this corresponds to a wave height in the range from 0.75 to 1.25 meters. At the same time, the aircraft can also be operated from conventional ground airfields, as it is equipped with a retractable tricycle landing gear.
The power plant of the Be-12 flying boat is represented by two AI-20D turboprop engines with a power of 5180 hp. each. Their power is enough to accelerate a flying boat with a takeoff weight of 36 tons to a speed of 550 km / h. At the same time, the cruising speed of patrolling is significantly lower and is approximately 320 km / h. The maximum flight range of the Be-12 is 4000 km, but the tactical range is limited to a distance of 600-650 km, provided that the aircraft remains in the assigned patrol area for about three hours.
Armament of the amphibious aircraft Be-12 "Chaika"
The version of modernization of the Be-12SK, providing for the possibility of using the 5F48 Scalp nuclear weapon, was still somewhat exotic. Such an aviation nuclear anti-submarine bomb ensured the guaranteed destruction of enemy submarines at depths of up to 500 meters and could be used for strikes against surface and ground targets in air and contact types of explosion. At the same time, the main armament of the Be-12 amphibious aircraft was the much more traditional depth charges and anti-submarine torpedoes.
The maximum combat load of the Be-12 flying boat is 3000 kg, the normal combat load is 1500 kg. The aircraft has 4 hardpoints and an internal weapons bay. To combat enemy submarines, the Seagull's crew could use PLAB-50 and PLAB-250-120 anti-submarine bombs. At the same time, initially little hopes were pinned on such bombs. Much more promising means of destruction were anti-submarine torpedoes AT-1 (PLAT-1), its modernized version AT-1M and AT-2. These dual-plane, acoustic, electric torpedoes were far more formidable weapons than conventional bombs.
In addition to anti-submarine bombs and torpedoes, the aircraft carried passive non-directional buoys of three main types: RSL-N (Iva), RSL-NM (Chinara) and RSB-NM-1 (Jeton). The listed hydroacoustic buoys for the Be-12 amphibious aircraft were the main source of information about the underwater situation. To reduce the rate of descent during dropping, the buoys were equipped with various types of parachute systems.
