AEF-75 Aquila

ÆF-75 Aquila
Royal Lindian Air Force Aquila (2018)
Role	Multirole aircraft, strike aircraft
National origin	Lindenholt
Manufacturer	Aerobus
First flight	18 February 1975
Introduction	1979
Status	In service
Primary user	Royal Lindian Air Force
Produced	1975–1998
Number built	992

The ÆF-75 Aquila (sometimes AEF-75 Aquila), often just called Aquila, is a twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft. It is the first fighter aircraft to be developed and manufactured by the Aerobus cooperation. The aircraft was designed with three variants in mind, those being the ÆF-75B for ground strike and interdiction missions, as well as close air support operations. The ÆF-75S, equipped with electronic warfare equipment meant to jam or otherwise disrupt enemy air defence and lastly, the ÆF-75I variant, which functioned as an interceptor aircraft.

Currently the B and S variants are in service with the Royal Lindian Air Force.

Operators

• Royal Lindian Air Force, 200 delivered, 67 in service
  • 17 Air support squadron (24x) (B-variant)
  • 4 Air support squadron (24x) (B-variant)
  • 5 Electronic Warfare squadron (19x) (I-variant)

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 (Pilot, Navigator)
• Length: 16.72 m (54 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 13.91 m at 25° wing sweep, 8.60 m at 67° wing sweep (45.6 ft / 28.2 ft)
• Height: 5.95 m (19.5 ft)
• Wing area: 26.6 m² (286 ft²)
• Empty weight: 13,890 kg (30,620 lb)
• Loaded weight: 20,240 kg (44,620 lb)
• Max. takeoff weight: 28,000 kg (61,700 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Dekkers 441-A1 (newer models A6) afterburning turbofans
  • Dry thrust: 43.8 kN (9,850 lbf) each
  • Thrust with afterburner: 76.8 kN (17,270 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2,400 km/h, 1,490 mph) at 9,000 m (30,000 ft) altitude; 800 knots, 1,482 km/h, 921 mph indicated airspeed near sea level
• Range: 1,390 km (870 mi) for typical combat mission
• Ferry range: 3,890 km (2,417 mi) with four external drop tanks
• Service ceiling: 15,240 m (50,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 76.7 m/s (15,100 ft/min)
• Thrust/weight: 0.77

Armament

• Guns: 1× 27 mm (1.06 in) Bouwer RK-27A revolver cannon internally mounted under starboard side of fuselage with 180 rounds (2x with 180 rounds each in B variant)
• Hardpoints: 4× light duty + 3× heavy duty under-fuselage and 4× swivelling under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 9,000 kg (19,800 lb) of payload, the two inner wing pylons have shoulder launch rails for 2× Short-Range AAM (SRAAM) each and provisions to carry combinations of:
  • Missiles: ***AIM-9 Sidewinder or AIM-132 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles for self-defence
    • 6× AGM-65 Maverick; or
    • 12× Brimstone missile; or
    • 2× Storm Shadow
    • 9× ALARM anti-radiation missile
  • Bombs: ***5× 500 lb Paveway IV; or
    • 3× 1000 lb (UK Mk 20) Paveway II/Enhanced Paveway II; or
    • 2× 2000 lb Paveway III (GBU-24)/Enhanced Paveway III (EGBU-24); or
    • BL755 cluster bombs; or
    • Up to 2× JP233 or MW-1 munitions dispensers (for runway cratering operations)
    • Up to 4× B61 or WE.177 tactical nuclear weapons
  • Other: Up to 4× drop tanks for ferry flight/extended range/flight time