Oddball Interceptors

[Daryl J.]

Vietnam era B-26K Invader with twin gas turbines with far too much shaft horsepower used to intercept helicopters and ground attack aircraft that an insecure, antibenevolent, suspicious dictator would have.     

As I don't know weaponry, insert rocket of choice with suitable head.




Daryl J.

[Mossie]

Hmm, looking at the CL-520, I'm thinking Nimrod AEW.3 with Red Hebe....

[tigercat2]

I was talking to a former pilot in the ND ANG (the Happy Holligans, IIRC), and he said that when they were going to convert to either F-4s or F-16s (they had been an interceptor unit for years, flying F-102s and F-101Bs), the first choice of the ANG was to see if they could purchase the 80 or so F-14s back from Iran.  If that was not possible (the Iranians tried to sell them back in the early days of the revolution, IIRC), they wanted the 80 or so F-111Ds.  Their plan was to gut the F-111Ds, install a Phoenix system and use the 111D as an interceptor, taking advantage of its long legs.


Wes W.

[dy031101]

I was talking to a former pilot in the ND ANG (the Happy Holligans, IIRC), and he said that when they were going to convert to either F-4s or F-16s (they had been an interceptor unit for years, flying F-102s and F-101Bs), the first choice of the ANG was to see if they could purchase the 80 or so F-14s back from Iran.  If that was not possible (the Iranians tried to sell them back in the early days of the revolution, IIRC), they wanted the 80 or so F-111Ds.  Their plan was to gut the F-111Ds, install a Phoenix system and use the 111D as an interceptor, taking advantage of its long legs.

Come to think of it, F-111B might make sense since for the ANG since F-111 was used by the AF anyway......

Vietnam era B-26K Invader with twin gas turbines with far too much shaft horsepower used to intercept helicopters and ground attack aircraft that an insecure, antibenevolent, suspicious dictator would have. 

Actually, that made me think about something that should prove odd enough- the anti-narcotics interceptors......

Or rather, the anti-narcotics interceptor hunter-killer team.  They'd use small airliners in the class of Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner modified with FLIR and air-intercept radar as the hunter (and sometimes command and control aircraft) of the team.  The modified airliners would be teamed with jet or prop-driven trainers or trainer-based attack aircraft (the killers).

Examples of the Metroliner have APG-66 fitted in the nose (although it doesn't quite fit my idea of good-looking) and are employed in Central and South America.  Dassault Falcons equipped with radars from Mirage-2000 for use as radar trainers would probably be of use in a similar manner if desired as well.  I'm not familiar with the existence (or the lack thereof) of counterpart in the former Eastern-Bloc, however.  Does anyone have insights on that?

[dy031101]

Now it suddenly came to me- what if the US continued with the idea of a mixed-power interceptor after the XF-91 Thunderceptor?

What could have been the basis for the Americans' Sud-Ouest Ttrident?

X-3 with guns in the forward fiselage, missiles under the wings, and a booster rocket cluster in the extreme tail?

Perhaps...... a XF-104 with booster rocket batteries on top and below the turbojet in the arrangement similar to the Thunderceptor would look great?

Any other candidates? 

Participation is quite welcomed as usual.