Aviation 2024, November

The Soviet military leadership was greatly impressed by the effective use of the Israeli Air Force of American E-2C Hawkeye AWACS aircraft during the 1982 Lebanese War. At that time, the Soviet Union had a limited number of heavy Tu-126s, which had already become quite obsolete. For

In the second half of the 60s, it became clear that the modernization potential of the EC-121 Warning Star AWACS aircraft was practically exhausted. The leaky cabin and piston engines prevented high-altitude patrols and the full potential of on-board radars. Use for

The United States has more flying radar pickets for the Air Force and Naval Aviation than all other countries combined. This applies to both the number of copies and the number of models. The bulk of the built AWACS aircraft entered the fleet, since aircraft carriers were considered the main

In this part of the review, we will focus on aircraft that are not so widely known as the E-2 Hawkeye or E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, however, which left their mark on the history of aviation and in some cases had a noticeable impact on the course of hostilities or distinguished themselves in the field of combat. with illegal

As already mentioned in the previous part of the review, by the beginning of the 70s of the last century in our country, work on a fundamentally new radio-technical complex "Bumblebee", intended for AWACS aircraft of the next generation, entered the final stage. Radar created at the Research Institute

All previously built aircraft for early warning and control of the US Air Force and NATO E-3A / B and most of the E-3C in the 21st century underwent modernization and refurbishment in order to increase combat capabilities and extend the flight life. At the moment, the E-3 Sentry is one

Soon after the appearance of radars, the question arose about increasing the detection range of air targets. This problem was solved in several ways. As far as possible, they tried to place radar stations at dominant heights, which made it possible not only to increase the area

The rapid development of jet aviation in the first post-war decades, an increase in the speed and range of combat aircraft, as well as the creation in the USSR of sea and air-based anti-ship cruise missiles, sharply raised the issue of protecting American aircraft carrier groups. If the first

In the second half of the 50s, the Americans realized that the continental United States was no longer an island isolated by the oceans, and so far the few Soviet strategic bombers are already quite capable of dropping nuclear bombs on American cities. Particularly vulnerable was

For a long time, the American F-4 Phantom II multirole fighter, along with the B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber, was a symbol of American combat aviation. Serial production of the first version of the F-4A began back in 1960. Various versions of the "Phantom", created

By the mid-1960s, the economies of Western Europe had almost completely recovered from the devastating consequences of World War II. This fully affected the aircraft industry in Germany and Italy, where explosive growth began. In Italy, in the post-war period, very successful

In the 80s, the American light single-engine fighter General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon dominated the air forces of the European NATO countries. For the sake of fairness, it must be admitted that one of the first fighters of the 4th generation, in operation since 1979, turned out to be very successful and used

In the 50s, American and British-made combat aircraft prevailed in the air forces of European states that found themselves in the US zone of influence. These were mainly American fighters: Republic F-84 Thunderjet and North American F-86 Saber, as well as British: de Havilland DH.100 Vampire and

In the early 60s, the Royal Air Force of Great Britain needed an aircraft that could eventually replace the aging Folland Gnat T1 and Hawker Hunter T7 trainers. At the same time, the French Air Force was looking for a replacement for the Lockheed T-33 and Fouga TCB See 170 Magister, as well as

Czechoslovakia has never been a great aviation power, but membership in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) and the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) put this country in the 60-80s as a leader in the production of training aircraft. There is no doubt that the lungs are jet

The history of Komsomolsk-on-Amur began on May 10, 1932, when the steamers "Komintern" and "Columbus" landed on the Amur coast, near the village of Permskoye, the first group of builders, numbering about 1000 people. The new city on the banks of the Amur was originally conceived as a military-industrial center on

In the history of aviation, there are aircraft that do not shine with high speed, altitude and flight range, carrying capacity or a large number of passengers carried. In these winged machines there is nothing special in terms of some advanced technical solutions or breakthrough aviation

In the 90s, left without Soviet orders, the management of Aero-Vodokhody decided to “seek happiness” in the West by taking part in the JPATS (Joint Primary Aircraft Training System) program, which envisaged the creation of a single training aircraft for initial training for the Armed

The first AWACS aircraft in the United States were created during the Second World War. The urgent need for such machines appeared after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. American admirals wanted to receive information about approaching enemy aircraft with enough time to take off

The Hunter fighter became, perhaps, the most successful British jet fighter in the 50-70s in terms of its characteristics and commercially successful on the foreign market. In terms of the number of British combat jets sold to foreign customers, the Hunter could only

On March 26, 2016, the publication of Kirill Sokolov (Falcon) was published on Voennoye Obozreniye: "Tu-22M3: time for retirement?" I want to say right away - I have great respect for Kirill and for the fact that he found it possible to publish, albeit a rather controversial, but very interesting article, on

In local conflicts around the world, there have been many cases of the use of originally purely peaceful aircraft in hostilities. Quite often, converted agricultural aircraft were involved in assault strikes in the course of numerous local wars and mutinies

Hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of forest land are burned out on our planet every year. Forest fires cause enormous damage. In addition to harm to the environment, industrial wood, animals, and often people die in the fire. In order to timely detect fires and prevent the spread of fire on

So there is a dear reader - you are not mistaken, in this publication we will talk about the bombers of the "An" brand, designed under the leadership of the Soviet aircraft designer Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov. The world famous O.K. Antonov became after the creation of a number of very successful transport and

Among the residents of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the name "Dzemga" is primarily associated with the Leninsky urban district, as the Komsomol residents call this area of the city among themselves. The very same word "Dzemgi" is of Nanai origin and is translated as "Birch grove". Before construction of the city began in 1932

In 1932, Komsomolsk-on-Amur was founded on the banks of the Amur in the middle of the Far Eastern taiga. Within 10 years, the city became an important industrial and defense center. During the Great Patriotic War, steel was smelted at its enterprises, combat aircraft and ships were built

As you know, Americans love to make various ratings, including those related to weapons and equipment. Naturally, in these ratings, the first places are taken by samples and products of American production

Until production was discontinued in 1993, export-modification Su-24MK bombers were supplied to Algeria, Iraq, Syria and Libya. The contract concluded with India was later terminated at the initiative of the customer, and front-line bombers with inscriptions in English on the hatches and assemblies were

In light of the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces deployed in the Syrian Arab Republic, the attention of foreign and domestic media has again been drawn to one of the most discussed Russian combat aircraft in recent years - the Su-24M. Previously, this front-line bomber was heavily criticized for its high

The first work on the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles in the USSR began in the early 30s of the last century. Initially loaded with explosives, radio-controlled drones were considered as "air torpedoes". They were supposed to be used against important targets, well covered by anti-aircraft

As already mentioned in the first part of the review, radio-controlled aircraft with piston engines were actively used in the first post-war years to ensure the process of testing new types of weapons and combat training of air defense forces. However, the aircraft built during the Second World War, in most

In the first half of the 80s, the Tupolev Design Bureau began developing a new multipurpose unmanned vehicle, which, in addition to performing reconnaissance missions, could strike at ground targets. According to the aerodynamic design, the new UAV repeated the well-mastered Tu-141 and Tu-143. But compared to

In the 50s of the last century, many interesting samples of aviation technology were created in the United States, which left a noticeable mark on the history of world aviation. One of these aircraft was the F-8 Crusader (Russian Crusader) jet carrier-based fighter, created by Vought. Creation and adoption on

In the late 60s, Soviet airborne troops were equipped with towed artillery systems and self-propelled artillery mounts. The airborne self-propelled guns were also entrusted with the tasks of transporting over the armor of the landing force and they were used as tanks in the offensive. However easy

Despite the termination of mass production of the F-8 Crusader fighters, the US Navy was in no hurry to part with them. In general, a very good aircraft, it was in full accordance with the tasks in front of him. However, one of the reasons why the F-4 Phantom II did not quickly ousted from the decks of aircraft carriers

Simultaneously with the growth of the economy, the leadership of the PRC embarked on a course towards a radical modernization of the armed forces. In the 80-90s, thanks to military-technical cooperation with Western countries, modern models of equipment and weapons appeared in the PLA. Creation and operation of combat helicopters in China

The combat experience of using the French light anti-tank helicopters Alouette III and SA.342 Gazelle demonstrated that they have a chance of success in the event of a surprise attack, and without entering the enemy's air defense zone. Light, barely armored vehicles were very vulnerable and could be easily shot down

According to Western expert estimates, after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, about a hundred AN-1J attack helicopters remained in Iran. However, difficulties with the supply of spare parts and not always timely maintenance led to the fact that in the early 90s, hardly half of the available

In the 60s, the construction of anti-tank helicopters in Europe was very limited, which was determined by both the imperfection of the helicopters themselves and the low characteristics of guided missile systems. The military was distrustful of the chirping rotary-wing vehicles

At the end of the 60s, the basis of the strike power of the tactical aviation of the US Air Force was made up of the F-100, F-105 and F-4 supersonic fighter-bombers, optimized for the delivery of tactical nuclear charges and strikes with conventional ammunition against large stationary targets: defense nodes, bridges