Daesŭngri DS-2
| Daesŭngri DS-2 | |
|---|---|
| File:Feidou FD-2.png Three-side view of the DS-2B | |
| General information | |
| Type | fighter (A variant) light attack and CAS aircraft (B and D) |
| Manufacturer | Daesungri (former) |
| Designer | Kamik-Tsylvanov, Erusuia (original designer) |
| Status | In Service |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1979-2003 |
| Introduction date | 1967 |
The Daesŭngri DS-2 (Menghean: 대승리 ㄷㅅ-5)is a combat aircraft produced in the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe. It began its development as a license-produced variant of the Erusuain KTs-9 fighter, but was better known in Menghe service with the DS-2B, which specialized in the ground-attack role. This was succeeded by the DS-2D, a major airframe overhaul which remains in service today. Over 5,000 were built, making it the most widely produced Menghe combat aircraft since the end of the Great Conquest war in 1944.
Development
The DS-2 began its life in Erusuia to the north, where in 1951 the national government placed a design requirement for a high-speed fighter aircraft capable of exceeding Mach 2. In response, the Kamik-Tsylvanov design bureau began testing two prototypes: Ya-2, with a swept wing, and Ya-3, with a delta wing. Flight tests in 1952 and 1953 found that the two airframes had broadly similar performance, but lackluster maneuverability and a high-profile crash of the Ye-3 led the designers to choose the swept-wing design instead. Production deliveries of the new aircraft, designated KTs-9, began in 1955.
During the later stages of the Menghe War of Liberation that ended the Occupation of Menghe, Erusuia supplied KTs-9 fighters to pilots of the Menghe People’s Army, which had by then occupied several airfields in the north. Impressed with the fighter’s performance, these pilots and their commanders petitioned the revolutionary government to seek a production license, which was granted in 1965. Airframes imported from Erusuia retained the designation KTs-9, but those produced in the DPRM were designated DS-2, as the newly created design bureau Daesungri ("Great Victory," named for the return to independence in 1964) had taken charge of flight testing and quality control.
Design
A fairly conventional swept-wing design, the KTs-9 was relatively advanced for its time in 1955, but was already somewhat outdated when the first DS-2 deliveries began in 1967. In addition to the designers’ choice of a swept wing over a delta wing, it lacked a targeting radar in the nose cone, which solely served to moderate aerodynamic shock into the intake at supersonic speeds. As such, it could only fire heat-seeking missiles like the YGG-1, which lacked all-aspect homing capability and had poor range and accuracy even when fired in a tail-on chase. On the other hand, it was inexpensive to produce and maintain, especially with the addition of several simplifying modifications introduced by the Feidou design bureau, making it adequate for Menghe’s needs at the time.
Thrust was provided by a single license-built Tsylvanov Ts-133 afterburning turbojet, which produced 36.2 kN of thrust “dry” and 58.8 kN with afterburner. Airflow to the engine is regulated by the nosecone, which can be slid forward or backward at differing speed and altitudes. At full thrust and with clean pylons, the DS-2A can reach Mach 1.95, just shy of the original Mach 2 design target.
Lift, meanwhile, was provided by an aggressively swept wing with a leading edge 30 degrees from the centerline. Large wing fences were installed on each, slightly closer to the fuselage than the wingtip, to regulate airflow down the wings at high speeds. In combination with its fairly light weight, these gave the DS-2B decent agility in low-level flight, with less speed reduction in turns than a delta wing.
Armament on early-model KTs-9s consisted of two 30mm FZP-30 autocannons, one in each wing root, as well as two 12.7mm machine-guns in the upper nose. To save ammunition, pilots were instructed to reserve the 30mm guns for “hard” targets such as bombers, buildings, and armored vehicles but use the 12.7mm on everything else. The latter weapons were part of the reason for the fighter’s distinctive relatively long nose forward of the canopy. Combat experience in the liberation of Menghe demonstrated that pilots generally ignored these instructions and used the 30mm cannons on everything, as the 12.7mm machine-guns had insufficient range, accuracy, and damage to engage enemy fighters. The DS-2A and DS-2B followed this result, deleting the 12.7mm guns and adding more ammunition for the 30mm autocannons. These guns were supplemented by five external hardpoints in the DS-2A, one under the fuselage and two under each wing. The DS-2D carried four under each wing but none under the fuselage for eight in all.
Variants
Daesungri DS-2B
In response to the apparent obsolescence of the KTs-9 airframe as a fighter, the Feidou design bureau began work on a dedicated ground-attack variant not long after the DS-2A began arriving in front-line units. The resulting DS-2B, designed with Erusuian aid, entered service in 1970. It was externally similar to the DS-2A, but has some changes for the ground-attack role, including a new targeting sight and a modified canopy to improve forward visibility. It also incorporated a number of fixes present on the latest Erusuian KTs-9OVTS, including new fuel tanks and fuel lines to reduce balance and fire issues on early-production airframes. DS-2Bs account for the majority of the ~5000 DS-2 airframes produced in the DPR Menghe.
Daesungri DS-2Ch
A 1971 proposal for a Daesungri-2 air superiority fighter, based on the Erusuian KTs-9 obr. 1969. The revised nose would have incorporated a wider mouth and larger cone, the latter housing a radar set capable of guiding SARH air-to-air missiles. The central government allocated funding for basic design work, including a number of paper blueprints and scale models, but scrapped the project in 1973 to focus on the Daesungri DS-5 instead.
Daesungri DS-2D
The DS-2D represents the most advanced departure from the original DS-2 airframe. It entered service in 1992 in response to a project requirement submitted in 1989. The design goal was to develop a better ground-attack aircraft with improved air-to-air capabilities as an interim measure in case the more advanced multirole project that became the Daesungri DS-12 encountered delays.
Its clearest distinguishing features concern the forward half of the airframe: the original nose intake has been replaced by a more conventional downward-sloping wedge, which contains a rudimentary surface-search radar and laser targeting system. Airflow to the engine is instead provided by a narrow semicircular intake on either side. The wing root FZP-30 cannons have been discarded in favor of a single BGP-30-2 in a streamlined conformal pod under the fuselage. Designed in a gast arrangement, in which each barrel’s recoil loads the other barrel’s chamber, the BGP-30-2 can achieve a higher rate of fire than both FZP-30s combined.
Other major changes concerned the powerplant. A new and more efficient afterburning turbojet, the Chŏngman 4070, allowed for a slightly longer range while increasing the payload to 2,400 kilograms. This latter increase came in spite of the addition of armor plates around the cockpit and engine, a measure intended to improve survivability against small-arms fire. Though insufficient for heavy bombing runs, a task left to the larger Sunglin SL-6B, the DS-2D was often armed with rocket pods or anti-tank missiles to provide low-level close air support for ground forces. Unfortunately, in spite of the “armor plates,” the DS-2D remained highly vulnerable to anti-air autocannons and shoulder-launched missiles – a problem worsened by its lightweight but fragile airframe and single engine.
Other Variants
- DS-2HR: trainer version based on the DS-2B with a tandem canopy. Has the same weight and dimensions as the DS-2B, but the fuel tanks were shrunk to make room for the additional seat, so range is shorter.
- DS-2DHR: trainer version based on the DS-2D with a tandem canopy. Unlike the DS-2HR, it has a stretched fuselage and similarly sized fuel tanks, allowing it to match the range of the DS-2D.
- DS-2RI: proposed conversion kit for use by the Innominadan Air Force, based on the DS-2D but with Spanish instruments and compatibility with Innominadan payloads. DS-2Ds currently in Innominadan service have certain instruments relabeled, but are still restricted to weapons sold from the Socialist Republic of Menghe.
- DS-2 Goguk (Homeland): Specialized airshow variant converted from decommissioned DS-2Bs which have passed functionality screening tests. Hardpoints have been stripped, apart from mounts for optional smoke-trail attachments, and ground-attack sights have been removed in favor of a new heads-up display.
- DS-2BQ: Unofficial designation for DS-2Bs exported to Qusayn. Some early accounts stated that the instruments had been redone in Alasedite script, but news reports later confirmed that they had been kept in Sukomun.
Service and Users
Menghe
The DPR Menghe and the Socialist Republic of Menghe were historically the main operators of the DS-2, and most of the 5,000 or so DS-2s of all variants remained in domestic use. In 2005 Menghe deactivated its last squadron of DS-2Bs and downsized its force of DS-2Ds, but still flew 324 operational DS-2Ds in the Light CAS Aviation Regiments of its Motorized Armies. In 2011 the government announced its intent to withdraw all of these aircraft from service by 2015, but after the outbreak of war with the Republica Innominada it reversed this decision and reactivated the CAS units which had been disbanded. As of 1 January 2016, there are still 180 DS-12s in Menghean service, all of them deployed in the Republica Innominada.
Qusayn
The Qusayni air force purchased 150 DS-2Bs in 1970, enough to equip 12 squadrons plus trainers and spares. Another 150 were delivered in 1975. These were widely used in bombing strikes against rural insurgents in 1975-1977 and 1979-1983, after failed collectivization and drought-related famine led to rebellion in Qusayn’s inland provinces. Operational experience in these campaigns first revealed the DS-2B’s vulnerability to 22mm anti-aircraft guns and shoulder-launched missiles, and survivors of the insurgency still claim that they downed at least one DS-2B with small-arms fire from assault rifles.
Minus wartime attrition, decommissionings, and breakdowns after the cutoff of Menghean supplies in 1987, the Qusayni Air Force still operates 223 aircraft, which serve in 18 squadrons of 12 aircraft each plus trainers and spares.
Republica Innominada
As part of the “reparations and combat aid” allocated to the Republica Innominada’s forces in the south and east, the Menghean government sold 108 combat-ready DS-2Ds, plus 12 trainers and spares in August 2015. All of these sales came from its own existing aircraft being passed out of service or stored for scrapping at a later date. At least one of these was lost to ground fire from insurgents since then.
Specifications (DS-2B)
General Characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 15.95 meters (excluding nose probe)
- Wingspan: 9.86 meters
- Height: 5.09 meters (on the ground, gear out)
- Wing Area: 26.01 square meters
- Empty Weight: 5,640 kg (12,430 lbs)
- Loaded Weight: 8,770 kg (19,330 lbs)
- Maximum Takeoff Weight: 9,870 kg (21,760 lbs)
- Powerplant: 1x Ts-133 turbojet
- Dry Thrust: 36.2 kN (8,138 lbs-force)
- Thrust with Afterburner: 58.8 kN (13,150 lbs-force)
- Fuel Capacity: 2,140 kg (4,720 lbs)
Performance
- Maximum Speed: Mach 1.95 (2,300 km/h) at altitude
- Combat Radius: 600 km with 500-kg payload
- Service Ceiling: 19,000 meters
- Rate of Climb: 205 meters per second
- Wing Loading: 379.7 kg/m2
- Thrust-to-Weight Ratio: 0.68
Armament
- Guns: 2x FZP-30 autocannon in wing roots
- Payload: 750 kg on 7 external hardpoints