Alt. Romanian Aircraft

[GTX]

Hi folks,

B777LR's "Romanian F-20?" thread (see here: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,19776.0.html) got me thinking -given Romania has had it's own aircraft manufacturing capability for a while and tendency (even during the Cold War) to work with western manufacturers, what about some alternative Romanian aircraft:

F-20 - maybe they manufacture the F-20 under licence;
Lavi - after working with the Israelis on the Lancer/Sniper upgrades, maybe they acquire some Lavis; or
Jaguars/Tornados - maybe in the early '90s the IAR-93 is replaced with some Jaguars or Tornado IDSs possibly transferred for the RAF.

Other ideas?

Regards,

Greg

[r16]

ı would say they would build the Jaguar right from the start .

[Archibald]

Instead of the Orao maybe ?
I like the Romanian aircraft industry, they made some impressive achievements, for example on the Puma helicopters.
I always thought that France 'ALAT should buy Romanian "improved Pumas" as stopgap waiting for the NH-90

Maybe IAR could have build a Puma / Chinook hybrid, I mean a Puma with tandem rotors ? 

I like the idea of a Romanian Jaguar, maybe with some Soviet hardware (what soviets turbojets were of the Adour class ?  )

Romanian Alpha Jet maybe ?
Romanian Hunter  (with unreheated MiG-21 R-11) Lancier / Hunter hybrid

[B777LR]

Well speaking of license produced aircraft produced in Romania, lets not forget airliners then!

BAe 146 = In the 1990s RomBAC (i beleive thats the name of the factory that made BAC 1-11s?) was denied building the super BAC 1-11, a version powered by RR Tays, modern cockpit and cabin, new wings. It wasnt allowed into production because BAe had the rights to the 1-11, and it could harm the equally good but newer BAe 146.
They thus decided to Aquire a license to produce the BAe 146. This aircraft began evolving into a whole new creature, even gaining succes after the original BAe 146 was dead and buried.

Original series:

For the most part just BAe 146s as they allways looked

RomBAe 146-100: Shorter version, seats up to 94 passengers
RomBAe 146-200: Medium sized version, seats up to 112 passengers
RomBAe 146-300: Larger version. Never built by BAe, features winglets and more powerful engines. Seats up to 132 passengers.

Next Generation:

Upgraded with Honeywell AS977 turbofans for greater efficiency and range, winglets, revised wings, 737 NG glass cockpit, etc.

RomBAe 146-700: Shorter version, seats up to 102 passengers
RomBAe 146-800: Medium sized version, seats up to 118 passengers
RomBAe 146-900: Larger version, seats up to 138 passengers

Other versions:

RomBAe 146 MRTT: Tanker, based on the RomBAe 146-900ER, features hose and drogue system. Sold to Romania, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Czech AF, Bulgaria, Chile, New Zealand.

RomBAe 146 AEW: Airborne Early Warning, based on the RomBAe 146-700 (IAI offers conversions for the RomBAe 146-100 though), features a rotating dome on the top. Sold to Romania, Turkey, Singapore, South Africa, Greece, Poland, Chile, Brazil, Libya (latter with russian engines though).

RomBAe 146 ASW: Anti Submarine Version, based on the RomBAe 146-700 or -100. Sold to Singapore, Netherlands, India, New Zealand, Turkey, Greece, Libya.

[Lawman]

Perhaps a Jaguar fighter, using improved Adour engines, with a French radar in the nose (a la Indian Jaguar IMs), equipped to guide the Super 530 missile. The Jaguar was a reasonably agile aircraft, and was mostly let down by its engines if memory serves (something the Brits corrected out of need, and the French never did for political reasons, namely Dassault...). If we boost the engines, add on chaff and flare dispensers, and some internal jamming gear, perhaps in an Israeli F-16 style spine, and have the full load of hardpoints (four underwing, two overwing, one center), then it should be a pretty good lightweight fighter. Okay, it is not an interceptor, but with a pair of Super 530s and a pair of Magic missiles overwing (perhaps even a twin launch rail on each overwing store?), it makes for a pretty good fighter and strike aircraft. Switch the 530s for AS-30s or Martels, and the Romanian Jags are very potent precision strike aircraft. Equally, a Romanian Alpha Jet wouldn't be a bad option, to perform both training and CAS. Few changes would be needed, with them probably being based on a combination of the French Alpha Jets (for training) and the German ones (for CAS).


Another possibility might have been for Romania to completely abandon its Soviet ties, and go for Anglo-French kit. The Romanian Air Force would be built around a fleet of ~200 Mirage 50s, ~100 Jaguars and ~100 Alpha Jets. The Army would have Puma transport and Alouette support helos, and perhaps even the IAR-317 Airfox! Their Navy would probably switch over to French patrol and missile boats, and perhaps a couple of French designed subs - add in a few Atlantique patrol planes, perhaps with an air surveillance radar for use in an AEW role!

[r16]

it appears to untrained eyes of mine that the Orao / IAR is just a simplified Jaguar

[Weaver]

it appears to untrained eyes of mine that the Orao / IAR is just a simplified Jaguar

The Orao is essentially a scaled down Jaguar, which uses Vipers rather than Adours.

On the same principle, if you scale a Jaguar up to use Speys, you get a JH-7....

[Archibald]

And if you scale-up the JH-7 with Olympus engines, you obtain a TSR-2. 
Russian puppets ?