The Little Attack Fighter that Could.

[Mediocrates]

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/...105/#more-5105

From news article:

McDonnell Douglas’ A-4 Skyhawk, aka. “Scooter,” has a long and storied career as a carrier-based attack aircraft with the US Navy. It’s old enough that Sen. John McCain was flying one when he was shot down over North Vietnam. It also has a storied land-based career with the Israeli Air Force, however, which used this simple, pilot-friendly aircraft from late 1967 onward as a versatile attack aircraft with surprising air-air teeth. In one engagement during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, an Israeli A-4 Skyhawk found itself facing 3 MiG-21s. The maneuverable little Skyhawk turned on them and brought 2 of them down, and was reportedly on the 3rd Fishbed’s tail when an IAF Mirage IIIC zipped through and blasted the MiG out of the sky. The little A-4’s surprising maneuverability was coupled with an equally surprising ability to take battle damage, but the type took heavy losses in the 1973 war: of 102 aircraft lost, 53 were Skyhawks.


Per mission losses in 1973 were just 0.6%, a lower figure than the previous 1970 War of Attrition with Egypt. Nevertheless, the writing was on the wall. When the F-16 was made available to Israel, the A-4s began to take a back seat. Some did participate in the 1982 Lebanon War, and one even scored a MiG-17 kill. By that time, however, squadron migrations to the F-16 had already begun, and 33 of the Skyhawks had been sold to Indonesia. By the mid 1990s almost all of Israel’s fighter squadrons had migrated, and 2000-2001 saw a handful of Israeli Skyhawks sold to corporate operators in BAE and ATSI. A number of A-4E/H/N aircraft are currently stored at Ovda Air Base, some planes have been used as electronic warfare support aircraft, and the “Flying Tigers” of 102 Squadron at Hatzerim Air Base still use their A-4Ns and 2-seat TA-4Js for advanced IAF pilot training.


These surviving aircraft require maintenance, which was being provided by the contractor Kanfei Tahzuka via Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Unfortunately, the little plane that could appears to have finally met its match. A scandal has grounded Israel’s Skyhawk fleet – and is about to lead to its replacement…


Dec 10/08: The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Air Force has finally decided to retire its Skyhawks. It quotes a “top IAF officer”:
“The plane is old and we are discovering problems…. Because of its age we are finding ourselves investing a lot of attention and resources and therefore we have started the process of searching for a new plane to replace the Skyhawk.”


Candidates to replace the aircraft include converted IAF F-16A/Bs, Boeing’s license-produced T-45TS Goshawk used by the US Navy, Finmeccanica’s M346 variant of the Yak-130, and Korea’s supersonic T-50.
The F-16s are reportedly a low-ranking option, because of the difficulty of transitioning from a primary jet trainer like the Fouga Magister or its T-6A turboprop replacement.


The Goshawk would offer a welcome boost for Boeing’s closing production line, and could be purchased with American military aid dollars. The flip side is that the US Navy has not invested in giving them secondary mission capabilities beyond their training role.


The M346’s performance profile and ordnance-carrying capability in a pinch is probably the closest to the Skyhawk’s, but Finmeccanica would have to overcome doubts regarding its long-term political stability as a supplier.
South Korea’s supersonic T-50 offers the highest potential performance within the group, with the ability to operate as an “F-16 Lite” in addition to its training role. Israeli firms have made inroads into the Korean market with their UAVs, and a T-50 order could represent the next step for both countries. An agreement that deepened bilateral defense ties, and included Israeli cooperation toward a T/A-50 with light attack capabilities, would create the most capable option for the IAF, while solving a problem for South Korea. The resulting trainer/ light fighter would have the potential for significant ripple effects in the global arms market. That high potential upside would come with a corresponding cost, however, as this would be Israel’s most expensive option.

Oct 5/08: Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reportes that:
“TheMarker found that the contractor failed to conduct checks on the system responsible for maintaining the aircraft’s altitude, as well as its exhaust and brakes systems. Moreover, when technicians found tire and wheel fractures, they were instructed to cover them with lubricant rather than mend the rifts.”


It is, perhaps, a testament to the aircraft’s ruggedness that no Skyhawk has yet been grounded, or suffered an accident, due to a safety malfunction. Nevertheless, the IAF isn’t about to push its luck. The service conducted a surprise inspection of the maintenance facility following the media reports, and in early October 2008 IAF chief Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan grounded the Skyhawk fleet based on what they had found.
IAI says they have offered complete cooperation with the government since the matter was brought to their attention. The situation remains in limbo, with no reports as yet of charges laid, other punitive action, or the lifting of the flight ban.

Note: The Goshawk is a UK BAE based plane modified and built under license by McD/Boeing. The Goshawk was intended as a direct replacement for their own A-4's in 1998 when the latter was retired from service. But it never filled out that role and is strictly a trainer. Moreover it is the only one of the three which has a never-exceed subsonic performance.

The M-346 is an Italian plane that was originally a joint effort with Yak (Yak-130, Russia). It is highly modified from the original Russian plan.

The F/A-50 is South Korean. Much of the internal works are Lockeed. The plane intended to be both an export light fighter and a transition trainer for RoK pilots into the F-16 which it closely resembles.

So aside from front line fighters, Israel appears to be looking at non US options. This is possibly a good option as it frees the IAF from being shackled to American procurement and restrictions imposed by DoD avionics lock downs.

[bararallu]

Why do we need these? Just as trainers? If so, why not just get the way cheaper bare-bones Yak 130, gutted with our own avionics?

If it's any sort of a-a fighter, this thing is not useful in the current environment as it's shaping up. Not with Saudi and Egyptian assets getting modernized.

I'd vote for another indigenous program, with our own stealth, radar/ avionics, basically everything outside the shell and the engines. We certainly wont get the top end American bird with Obama in office. And if we by miracle have an option to buy, it's way to expensive. Even the step down is way to expensive.

[Mediocrates]

T/A's are generally light fighters. They are used for jet training - critically important. And light fighting and ground support duties. That's what the A-4 was used for most successfully. The key is, you don't need Su-30's and F-35's and F-22's for most operations. Heck the Su-30 is bigger than a WW2 B-17 bomber. Current tactics dictate a quicker lighter platform that can be sent in and out, absorb damage and take out small missile/rocket launchers and mobile armor. Cheaper to run than Longbow Apache Helos. The JDAM is the new equalizer between large planes and mid sized planes. Load up a bunch of these light fighters with them and it's a huge force multiplier.

[bararallu]

T/A's are generally light fighters. They are used for jet training - critically important. And light fighting and ground support duties. That's what the A-4 was used for most successfully. The key is, you don't need Su-30's and F-35's and F-22's for most operations. Heck the Su-30 is bigger than a WW2 B-17 bomber. Current tactics dictate a quicker lighter platform that can be sent in and out, absorb damage and take out small missile/rocket launchers and mobile armor. Cheaper to run than Longbow Apache Helos. The JDAM is the new equalizer between large planes and mid sized planes. Load up a bunch of these light fighters with them and it's a huge force multiplier.

So they are basically trainers. Why not take an opportunity and start up an indigenous production or a cost cutter with maybe India.

[Mediocrates]

Indigenous programs are fabulously expensive. You have to be able to export or license large numbers of them to knock the per unit cost down. You also have to be willing to spend 10 years developing and debugging it. South Korean and Italy both have 1 - 1.3 Trillion dollar economies, about 5-7x larger than that of Israel.

The only noteworthy exception to the rule is the stunning success of Saab. Sweden's success is nothing short of amazing.

Don't forget that the Kfir was largely a re engineered reverse engineered Mirage III with a larger GE engine shoehorned into it.

Indian defense procurement programs are poster children of delay, inefficiency, problems and bad results. The Indians have tried and failed numerous times to get an indigenous front line fighter out the door. Better to buy something someone else has invested in and completed. Anyway for a second line fighter multirole attack craft, what else new is there to bring the table? Whatever you use stuff it full of Israeli avionics and use it.

[yonatan]

The A-4 has hung around so long because it is has been so cheap to operate, and the Israeli air force didn't want to invest anything beyond the bare minimum in an advanced jet trainer. Those aircraft have been flying on a bare-bones budget for decades. The engine-related crashes, as well as the more recent grounding of the Skyhawk fleet for maintenance irregularities - both of which are alluded to in the Jerusalem Post article - are testaments to the kind of corners that have been cut.

The real challenge in selecting a replacement will be to find an alternative that is cheap enough not to interfere with Israeli plans to acquire the F-35 in coming years. Much as I admire South Korea's T-50, I have to believe that the US Navy's T-45 Goshawk - with far more orders behind it - will prove to be a more cost effective choice.

[Mediocrates]

Unfortunately for the Goshawk it's designed as a carrier based plane and would require some bit of reengineering to be turned into a land based T/A. The F/A 50 or 'mini F-16' is probably overkill for strictly a T/A roll and probably a bit more expensive than it has to be. The M-346 is actually remarkably state of the art for what it is. It's fly by wire systems are designed to reflect 4.5/5 gen current front line fighters. Also I rather like the idea of not being beholden to the US for yet another system.