Gladeus Gu-24

Gu-24
Graphical overview of a Gu-24
Role	Strategic bomber , maritime strike
National origin	Velikoslavia
Manufacturer	Gladeus
First flight	23 August, 1973
Introduction	31 January, 1974
Status	In Service
Primary user	Velikoslavia
Produced	1974-Present
Number built	230

The Gladeus Gu-24 is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Gladeus Aircraft Workshop. Significant numbers remain in service with the Imperial Air Legion, and as of 2014 more than 54 Gu-24s are in use. The aircraft was one of the most capable bombers in the world when it came out. It was developed off of the previous Gu-21 platform as an updated and more potent successor to the poor design.

Development

As in the case of other projects, the advantages of variable-sweep wing (or "swing wing") seemed attractive, allowing a combination of short take-off performance, efficient cruising, and good high-speed, and low-level flight. The result was a new swing wing aircraft named the XG24, derived from the Gu-21, with some features borrowed from the Gu-18. The Gu-24 was based on the Gu-21's weapon system and used its bomb bay design and weapons configurations. The aircraft was initially configured to carry free fall nuclear bombs. All production models were reconfigured in 1975 to carry cruise missiles and other smaller nuclear devices. The Gladeus design team released several pre-production aircraft in 1972 and performed extensive testing. The first production aircraft were ready to enter service by late 1973.

Production of all Gu-24 variants totaled 120 including pre-production aircraft.

Design

The Gu-24 is a variable-sweep wing aircraft capable of supersonic flight. It marked the second supersonic bomber to enter the Veliko service. The aircraft possesses powerful AA-20 turbojets. These were extensively redesigned utilizing components and structures from the previous AA-16 turbojets, which cut costs and saved time. The airframe is better designed for heat dissipation and uses more high grade titanium and aluminum. Instead of mounting the engines on the rear of the fuselage like in the Gu-21, the engines are mounted on either side of the airframe with large intake ports at the wing bases. The exhaust thrusters are directly under the rear wing. Increased crew space within the cockpit allows for the four man crew to have more spacious stations and increases room to work. Earlier lessons from the Gu-21 were heeded and the cockpit contains space for a pilot and a co-pilot, lightening the workload on the primary pilot. Instead of pod mounted landing gear, the landing gear is mounted into dedicated ports designed into the airframe. The wings and airframe are reinforced with additional titanium struts to increase durability at highspeeds as well as payload.

Variants

• XG24 - Initial production prototype released in August of 1972 and tested in secret. Passed performance trials.
• XG24I - Airframe testing craft stripped down to its most basic propulsion systems. Fully passed trials.
• Gu-24AI - Initial production variant beginning production in late 1973.
• Gu-24AII - Improved base platform with longer wings and slight modifications to the engines to increase payload.
  • Gu-2AKB - Aircraft equipped with ELINT equipment introduced in 1975 to replace older aircraft.
  • Gu-24AT - Dedicated aerial refueling tanker to refuel fleets of Gu-24s and Gu-18s.
• Gu-24B - Updated base model introduced in 1983 featuring additional frame reinforcements and the addition of lighter weight, stronger composite materials in certain parts of the aircraft.
  • Gu-24BMr - Maritime reconnaissance aircraft equipped with ELINT equipment and additional high resolution cameras. Armament and weapons management systems as well as several external hardpoints removed to decrease weight and increase speed slightly.
  • Gu-24BAR - Dedicated missile strike aircraft with the capability to carry heavy supersonic cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles, and tactical nuclear devices. Equipped with special passive detection equipment to locate and target enemy sensors.
  • Gu-24ECM- Electronic countermeasures variant for escorting strike aircraft and providing the capabilities to instigate a full ECM strike.
  • Gu-24ECMII - Missile guidance and ECM aircraft introduced as an improvement over the ECM variant.
• Gu-24C - Drastically updated and improved base model introduced in 1995 with additional improvements to the engines and avionics.
  • Gu-24CEW - ECM variant introduced in 1996 based off of the updated platform with updated ECM equipment.
  • Gu-24EL - ELINT variant introduced with external and internal ELINT equipment based off of the C airframe.

Service Life Extension Variants

• Gu-24SL - Modernization introduced in 2009 as an upgrade for 32 airframes. Introduces modern top of the line avionics as well as additional electronic controls replacing hydraulic controls to save weight. The cockpit received two HUD displays with the capability to read signals from analogue mechanical sensor equipment aboard the craft. Reworked AA25 turbofans increase performance and decrease fuel consumption slightly, increasing the aircraft's top speed. The upgrade will extend the life of the aircraft until 2025
• Gu-24SLR - Updated ELINT variant based off of SL aircraft.
• Gu-24SRe - Updated reconnaissance variant based off of SL aircraft

Gu-24 153rd Heavy Bomber Wing on trials in 1991. All pictured are Gu-24BAR bombers

Operators

• Velikoslavia

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 4 (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, weapon systems operator)
• Length: 42.4 m (139 ft 4 in)
• Wingspan:
  
  • Spread (20° sweep): 34.28 m (112 ft 6 in)
  • Swept (65° sweep): 23.30 m (76 ft 6 in))
• Height: 11.05 m (36 ft 3 in)
• Wing area:
  
  • Spread: 183.6 m² (1,976 ft²)
  • Swept: 175.8 m² (1,892 ft²)
• Empty weight: 58,000 kg (128,000 lb)
• Loaded weight: 112,000 kg (246,000 lb)
• Max. takeoff weight: 124,000 kg (273,000 lb) ; 126,400 kg (278,700 lb) for rocket assisted TO
• Fuel capacity: 54,000 kg (118,800 lb) internally
• Powerplant: 2 × Falcus Designs AA-20 turbofans, 247.9 kN (55,100 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 1.88 (2,303.08 km/h; 1,243.565 kn; 1,431.07 mph) (2,000 kilometres per hour (Mach 1.6; 1,100 kn; 1,200 mph)) ; at altitude
• Range: 6,800 km (4,200 mi, 3,700 nmi)
• Combat radius: 2,410 km (1,500 mi, 1,300 nmi) with typical weapons load
• Service ceiling: 13,300 m (43,600 ft)
• Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,950 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 688 kg/m² (147 lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.45

Armament

• Guns: 1 × 23-mm Reaper 30mm cannon in remotely controlled tail turret
• Hardpoints: wing and fuselage pylons and internal weapons bay with a capacity of 24,000 kg (53,000 lb) of

• Up to 3 × supersonic large antishipping missiles in weapons bay and on wing pylons or
• Up to 6 × smaller antishipping missiles on a MKU-6-1 rotary launcher in its bomb bay, plus 4 × smaller missiles on two underwing pylons for a total of 10 missiles per aircraft.
• Various freefall bombs