Super Ground Attack Aircraft Idea

[Cobra]

Hey Guys, a Thought just struck Me:What If parts from a Sepecat Jaguar were Combined with the Airframe from a CF-105 to create a 'Super Ground Attack' Aircraft for CAS Duty? just something i Often Wondered about. Hope I'm not Sounding Crazy,Just wondered because The CF-105 was a Cool Plane That SHOULD have been Built,IMHO! What say You? Thanks for Looking.Dan

[Maverick]

Dan,

I've read some good things about deltas at low level, that being said, I've also read some bad things too.  For a ground pounder Arrow, I'd say the Jag's inertial nav would be the most important component along with a scabbed on LRMTS undernose somewhere.  Wing pylons are another option, although it did have an internal weapons bay (I think).  Of course, that was for AAMs not bombs, so space might be limited.  Internally, a ground optimised attack radar would be the most obvious mod (along with the Jag's INS).

HTH,

Mav

[Weaver]

The Tornado's nav-attack radar and avionics should fit nicely, along with the optional under-fuselage LRMTS unit. Weapon-wise, I'd be inclined to replace the weapon bay with a fuel tank with external pylons on the bottom of it for maximum load flexibility. Wing pylons would be a must and there isn't that much room for them, given the layout of the Arrow's main gear.

The main problem would be wing stress. The Arrow was never stressed for extended periods in high-speed, low-level turbulence and the lower wing loading (I think?) would make it worse still. I suspect that if you started using CF-105s for Tornado-like missions, they'd all be grounded with wing-spar cracks inside a couple of years in much the same way as the Valiant.

If you're going to re-build the wing to take the additional stress, you might as well take the chance to re-engineers the undercarriage to retract backwards into trailing-edge Kuchemann fairings (as was seriously proposed) as that would reduce the size of the hole in the lower wing skins and make more room for pylons.

[Jschmus]

Traditional fast mover aircraft aren't particularly well-suited for CAS.  This has been negated somewhat by recent developments with the Small Diameter Bomb and Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser, but traditionally the best aircraft for close air support have been the ones designed to go low and slow, i.e., the A-1 Skyraider, A-10 Thunderbolt II, OV-10 Bronco, et al.