1:72 FAdeA IA-96A “Quique” (a.k.a. IAI “Kfir” C.9), Argentinian Air Force, 2016

Gondor · September 22, 2020, 03:02:43 PM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on September 14, 2020, 11:37:34 PM

Due to the longer afterburner section, the brake parachute fairing had to be extended, too. The longer (just 3-4mm), more slender tail section and the cleaner fin change the Kfir's look markedly – for the better, IMHO, and the model could also depict an Atlas Cheetah E!

My intention is to get a Cheeta E conversion set for the AMK Kfir to make the C.9 versopn.

Gondor

Dizzyfugu · September 23, 2020, 12:18:22 AM

Might be a convenient approach, instead of slashing up a whole Mirage III.

However, the conversion kit/part will certainly need serious adaptation work, too, since it will be tailored to a Mirage III airframe, not the Kfir's, which is wider at the waist. The result should look very similar, though, I am curious what eventually will become of it.

BTW, the photo session has been finished, now the picture selection and editing follow.

Gondor · September 23, 2020, 12:56:37 AM

The company I buy from is in South Africa, not heard anything from them for a couple of months and I do have an outstanding order with them. I am hopeing that they are ok. http://spring-air.com/scaleworx/

Gondor

Dizzyfugu · September 24, 2020, 12:23:28 AM

Finally, it's done! And the next finished model is already waiting for its "catwalk session"...

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
After the Falklands War, Argentina was not only left with a much reduced aerial strike force – budget restraints, inner and external political pressure as well as delivery boycotts plagued the country for years in its efforts to rejuvenate the air force. Recent years were troublesome, too. In early 2005 the top seventeen brigadiers of the Air Force, including the Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Carlos Rohde, were sacked by President Néstor Kirchner following a scandal involving drug trafficking through Ezeiza International Airport. The primary concerns of the Air Force as of 2010 were the establishment of a radar network for control of the country's airspace, the replacement of its older combat aircraft (Mirage III, Mirage V) and the incorporation of new technologies. The possibility of purchasing surplus French Air Force Mirage 2000C fighters, like the option chosen by the Brazilian Air Force, had been considered.

As of 2010, budgetary constraints continued, leading to the disbanding of the Boeing 707 transport squadron and maintenance problems for half of the C-130 Hercules fleet. In August 2010 a contract was signed for two Mi-17E helicopters, plus an option on a further three, to support Antarctic bases. All the time, though, the FAA had been seeking to replace its ageing force with a more capable and more serviceable modern aircraft. Argentina's Super Étendard fighters, which had been used to launch Exocet missiles in the 1980s and still served, come from France. Its Mirage III/ V/ "Nesher" fighters were originally bought second-hand from Israel and Peru, but they had deteriorated badly. Its A-4P Skyhawk models were originally sold to Argentina by the USA but phased out in 1999, the more modern A-4AR "Fightinghawks" were rebuilt and modernized ex USMC A-4Ms. What was left of those deliveries made up the bulk of the Argentinian jet fleet.

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The acquisition of Spanish Mirage F1Ms, IAI Kfir Block 60s from Israel and Saab Gripen E/Fs from Sweden was considered, but all of those deals stalled, for various reasons. The Mirage F1 deal was scrapped by the Spanish government after pressure of the UK to not assist in FAA modernization over tensions between the countries over the Falkland Islands. The UK also managed to successfully veto the sale of Gripen E/Fs, as 30% of the Gripen's parts were manufactured there. British diplomacy furthermore worked to delay Argentina's proposed Super Étendard modernization. To make matters worse, despite steadily worsening relations with Britain under the Obama administration, the USA would neither sell Argentina any jet fighters, nor supply spare parts or engines.

This only left Argentina with the original source for its Nesher/Dagger/Finger fighters as a reliable and (moreover) affordable option: Israel. The (realistic) object of desire was the successor of the Nesher, the Kfir, which entered service with the IAF in 1975. The Kfir was, like the Nesher, a Mirage III/V derivative, but a major improvement. Substantial structural changes had been made and IAI replaced the original Atar 9C of French origin with a more powerful J79 turbojet, which had been used at the time by IDF F-4 Phantom IIs of American origin, too. The Kfir received during its career progressive modifications to its airframe (in the form of canards which improved the fighter's handling considerably), radar, electronics, and weapons, and these upgrades continued even after the Kfirs were retired from Israeli service in the late 1990s, on behalf of export customers like Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka.

The Kfir's retirement in Israeli service led to a great number of surplus airframes with considerable flying hours left, so that the Kfir C.10/Block 60, a dedicated export variant with many updates, was developed on their basis and offered to foreign customers. These machines carried modern multi-mode radars and electronics on par with contemporary F-16 Block 40/50s, giving them the ability to use beyond visual range aerial weapons, advanced short range AAMs, and a variety of precision strike weapons. However, it would take a brave Kfir pilot to face a Eurofighter Typhoon in single combat... even so, the late an updated Kfirs were capable and redoubtable fighters.
Their combat radius was a bit short, though, due to the thirsty and somewhat outdated J79 engine, but their aerial refueling capability compensated for this flaw and made them well-suited to intimidation and presence patrols. The Kfir's relatively small price tag made it, despite the airframe's overall age, very attractive for small nations with limited defense budgets – and consequently it attained Argentinian interest.

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Argentinian negotiations went so far that Israel not only agreed to sell 18 revamped Kfir fighters from ex-IDF overstock, IAI also offered to adapt the airframes to a different engine, the French Atar 9K-50 afterburning turbojet, which were not part of the deal, though. This appeared like a backward roll, since the Kfir was originally constructed to replace the French Atar 9C with the American J79 in Israel's Mirage III/V copy – but this move was the only way to provide Argentina with a suitable engine that was freely available on the Western world market without British or American bans and interventions.

The result of this deal became the so-called Kfir C.9, even though this was just an internal designation at IAI and never officially adopted in order to avoid political problems. In the course of 2013 and 2014, the engine-less Kfir airframes were delivered as knocked-down kits via ship to Argentina. At Argentina's nationalized aircraft manufacturer Fábrica Argentina de Aviones SA (FAdeA) in Córdoba they were mated with the new engines, imported separately from France, and equipped with imported and domestic avionics. In Argentinian service and to the public, the aircraft became known as FAdeA "IA-96A" and was, keeping up the FAA's tradition to christen its fleet of various Mirage III derivatives after domestic animals, called "Quique" (lesser grison).

The IA-96A/Kfir C.9 was specifically tailored to the Argentinian needs and restrictions. Despite wishes to buy Kfirs according to the more versatile and capable C.10 export standard with a modern Elta EL/M-2032 multi-mode radar, Argentina's highly limited defense budget and other equipment constraints imposed by foreign suppliers and governments only allowed the procurement of what basically was a re-engined Kfir C.7 with some minor updates.
In contrast to the Kfir C.10, the older C.7 was only outfitted with the Elta EL/M-2021B radar. This was a multi-mode radar, too, which still offered air-to-air and air-to-surface capability, but it was less powerful than the C.10 standard and offered only a relatively short range of max. 46 mi/74 km.
Like the Israeli C.7, the C.9 had inflight refueling capability through a fixed but removable probe, and it featured a HOTAS-configured cockpit. Individual updates were a new, frameless wrap-around windshield for a better field of view, two 127×177mm MFDs in the cockpit, full HMD capability, a simple TAV38 laser rangefinder in a small fairing under nose, and improved avionics to deploy state-of-the-art guided weapons of Israeli and French origin (see below).

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Outwardly, the C.9's biggest difference to the original C.7 configuration – even though it was not very obvious – was the modified rear fuselage, which had to be changed in order to cover the longer and more slender Atar 9K-50 engine and its afterburner. In fact, the original IAI Nesher blueprints and toolings had been dusted off and used to produce these new parts.
Since the lighter Atar 9K-50 would not need the J79's extra cooling and had a lower air mass flow, the Kfir's characteristic auxiliary air intake at the fin's root as well as several prominent air scoops along the fuselage disappeared, giving the aircraft a more streamlined look. As a positive side effect, this measure, together with the slimmer fuselage, improved aerodynamics, compensating for the slight reduction of overall thrust through the engine swap, and the longer fuselage made the aircraft directionally more stable, so that no fin fillet was necessary anymore. With the resulting short fin, the IA-96's profile resembled that of the South African Atlas Cheetah E a lot, even though the latter were modernized Mirage IIIs and not converted IAI Kfirs. Compared with the Kfir C.7, top speed and service ceiling were slightly reduced, but the Atar 9K-50 consumed considerably less fuel, so that the unrefueled range of the short-legged Kfir with its thirsty J79 was markedly improved. The new engine was furthermore more responsive, so that overall performance and agility of the IA-96A remained on par with the Kfir or became even slightly better.

Beyond the aircraft order, Argentina also procured a modernized weapon arsenal from Israel for its new multi-role fighter generation. This included an undisclosed number of Derby medium range air-to-air missiles with an active-radar seeker, BVR capability and a range of 28 mi (45 km), Gabriel III anti-ship missiles with fire-and-forget capabilities and a range of more than 40 mi (60 km), as well as Griffin LGB guidance sets that could be added to various standard iron and cluster bombs. Furthermore, ten second-hand Thomson-CSF ATLIS II laser/electro-optical targeting pods were procured from France. Even though these pods lacked FLIR capabilities and were limited to being primarily a daylight/clear-weather system, they gave the Quique, in combination with the Griffin LGBs, full precision strike capability, esp. against ship targets – a clear political statement into the British direction.

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Quique fleet was supposed to replace all the older FAA types. With the roll-out of the first IA-96A in early 2015, all vintage FAA Mirages were officially decommissioned in November of the same year. Furthermore, all FAA's A-4 Skyhawks were grounded as of January 2016, too (also for the lack of spares), even though a handful A-4ARs remained airworthy as a reserve and the rest in storage. Quique deliveries ended in September 2017 with the eighteenth machine, and all of them were allocated to FAA's Grupo 5 de Caza at Villa Reynolds, 200 km (125 ml) in the South of Córdoba, where they had been assembled. However, since becoming operational, the aircraft were frequently deployed to other Argentinian air bases, including El Plumerillo Military Air Base in the Mendoza Province at the Chilean border and Rio Gallegos in Patagonia, in reach of the Malvinas/Falklands Islands.

If future budgets allow it, ten more IA-96A/Kfir C.9 might be ordered soon in order to replace the Argentinian Navy's vintage Super Étendard fleet (which has been, since the decommissioning of ARA Veinticinco de Mayo in the late Eighties, land-based, anyway). The acquisition of four to six two-seaters, also modernized ex-IDF aircraft following the IA-96A pattern, with full attack capability and tentatively designated IA-96B, has been under consideration, too.

General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 15.65 m (51 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 8.22 m (27 ft 0 in)
Height: 4.55 m (14 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 34.8 m² (375 ft²)
Empty weight: 7,285 kg (16,061 lb)
Gross weight: 11,603 kg (25,580 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 16,200 kg (35,715 lb)

Powerplant:
1× SNECMA Atar 9K50C-11 afterburning turbojet engine,
49.2 kN (11,100 lbf) dry thrust and 70.6 kN (15,900 lbf) with afterburner

Performance:
Maximum speed: 2,350 km/h (1,460 mph, 1,270 kn) / Mach 2.2 at high altitude
1,390 km/h (860 mph; 750 kn) at sea level
Combat range: 1,300 km (810 mi, 700 nmi), clean, with internal fuel only
Ferry range: 2,600 km (1,600 mi, 1,400 nmi) w. three 1,300 l (340 US gal; 290 imp gal) drop tanks
Service ceiling: 17,000 m (56,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 233 m/s (45,900 ft/min)

Armament:
2× Rafael-built 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 553 cannon with 140 RPG
Nine external hardpoints for a maximum payload of 5,775 kg (12,732 lb) and a wide range of ordnance, including bombs such as the Mark 80 series, unguided air-to-ground rocket pods, Paveway and Griffin series of LGBs, guided air-to-ground missiles like the AGM-65 Maverick, and AIM-9 Sidewinders, Shafrir/Python/Derby-series AAMs

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) IA-96A "Quique" (IAI "Kfir" C.9); "I-910" of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Grupo 5 de Caza; Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds (Argentina), late 2016 (Whif/modified Hasegawa kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In the end a rather subtle conversion – even though the different rear fuselage was a major PSR stunt! The most obvious modification is probably the intake-less fin? The transplanted, different rear fuselage is hard to recognize and only true Mirage/Kfir experts might tell the changes – or the model is directly mistaken for a Mirage V fighter bomber? And even though the model carries a grey-in-grey scheme which I originally wanted to avoid, I think that the bluish touch and the integral, wavy pattern still look interesting?
However, I also like the story behind this whif that has real life roots – the real Kfir C.9 just failed to materialize because of lack of funding, and its introduction would certainly have had severe consequences for the unstable Argentinian-British relationships, since this capable aircraft would certainly pose a serious threat to the shaky peace in the Southern Atlantic and have stirred up the more or less dormant Falklands/Malvinas conflict again.

NARSES2 · September 24, 2020, 07:10:43 AM

Now that's fantastic, really does work with that camouflage scheme

DogfighterZen · September 24, 2020, 08:20:18 AM

Looks very good indeed, and the story is very believable. I also like the camo scheme, greys are my thing...

Great work as usual, Dizzy.

Dizzyfugu · September 24, 2020, 08:37:37 AM

Thank you very much! More "grey-in-grey" coming soon...

Old Wombat · September 24, 2020, 09:10:11 AM

That is one sweet build, Dizzy, & I love the camo (even though I'm not usually a grey-on-grey kinda guy). Top notch!

ChernayaAkula · September 26, 2020, 03:25:19 PM

Looked great in the in-progress shots, but the beauty pics make it look even better!

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on September 23, 2020, 12:18:22 AM
<...> However, the conversion kit/part will certainly need serious adaptation work, too, since it will be tailored to a Mirage III airframe, not the Kfir's, which is wider at the waist. <...>

According to Scaleworx, their set(s) for the Cheetah E is to be used with either the Italeri Kfir (older set) or the AMK kit.
Scaleworx have posted some in-progress shots of their Cheeath C on ARC . LINK!
Are you sure about the wider waist? The IsraDecal book on the Kfir says IAI managed to get the engine bay wider without having to alter the external shape.

Quote from: Gondor on September 23, 2020, 12:56:37 AM
The company I buy from is in South Africa, not heard anything from them for a couple of months and I do have an outstanding order with them. I am hopeing that they are ok. http://spring-air.com/scaleworx/

Gondor

I think the guy running Scaleworx is a member here. At least he used to be. Went by "Bladerunner". Apparently he hasn't posted here in ages, though. Maybe try to contact him via ARC? Name over there is "Scaleworx".