AEF-94 Accipiter

ÆF-94 Accipiter
An Royal Lindian Air Force doing a low pass
Role	Multirole fighter
National origin	Ventismar Union
Manufacturer	Aerobus
First flight	27 March 1994
Introduction	4 August 2003
Status	In service
Produced	1994–present
Number built	558
Unit cost	$90 million
Developed into	KLB-98 Würger (possibly)

The ÆF-94 Accipiter (also AEF-94 Accipiter) often shortened to Accipiter, is a 4.5 generation twin engine multirole fighter aircraft, often classified together with the AEF-88 Elanus as a so-called Venticanard. It was designed and is being built by the Ventismar Union based Aerobus aircraft consortium, who have produced [x] number of aircraft for [x] number of countries.

The Englean KLB-98 Würger, which was introduced several years after the Accipiter, bears a striking resemblance to the Aerobus aircraft. So much so that Aerobus accuses the Engleans of corporate and military espionage and for copying their design. This has led to the Ventismar Union no longer allowing technology transfers between the VU and Engleberg.

The Accipiter has proven itself to be a highly agile aircraft, and mainly fulfils air-to-air combat roles. Despite this, the aircraft's multirole nature makes it capable of assuming ground attack and interdiction roles as well.

As of 2018 Aerobus has announced a series of life extension programmes that would keep the aircraft operable until at least the 2040's. The first lefe extension programme would add on to the aircraft's stealth, improve its fire control systems and its radar. Despite these improvements, the Allentyr-Aznazian developed F-30 Griffon 5th generation stealth fighter is set to take the place of Ventismar's most advanced fighter aircraft.

Operators

• Royal Lindian Air Force, 144 in service
  • 4 Jet fighter squadron (24x)
  • 5 Air intercept squadron (24x)
  • 9 Jet fighter squadron (24x)
  • 11 Jet fighter squadron (24x)
  • 5 Air support squadron (24x)
  • 6 Air support squadron (24x)

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 1 (operational aircraft) or 2 (training aircraft)
• Length: 15.96 m (52.4 ft)
• Wingspan: 10.95 m (35.9 ft)
• Height: 5.28 m (17.3 ft)
• Wing area: 51.2 m² (551 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 11,000 kg (24,000 lb)
• Loaded weight: 16,000 kg (35,270 lb)
• Max. takeoff weight: 23,500 kg (51,800 lb)
• Fuel capacity: 5,000 kg (11,020 lb) internal
• Powerplant: 2 × Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofan
  • Dry thrust: 60 kN (13,500 lbf) each
  • Thrust with afterburner: >90 kN (20,230 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: **At altitude: Mach 2 class
  • At sea level: Mach 1.25
  • Supercruise: Mach 1.5
• Range: 2,900 km (1,800 mi)
• Combat radius:
  (with 3 × external 1,000 l tanks)
  • Ground attack, lo-lo-lo: 601 km (325 nmi)
  • Ground attack, hi-lo-hi: 1,389 km (750 nmi)
  • Air defence with 3-hr combat air patrol: 185 km (100 nmi)
  • Air defence with 10-min. loiter: 1,389 km (750 nmi)
• Ferry range: >3,790 km (2,350 mi; with 3 × drop tanks)
• Service ceiling: 19,812 m (65,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: >318 m/s (62,600 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 312 kg/m² (63.9 lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: 1.15 (interceptor configuration)
• g-load limits: +9 g to −3 g
• Brakes-off to Take-off acceleration: <8 s
• Brakes-off to supersonic acceleration: <30 s
• Brakes-off to Mach 1.6 at 11,000 m (36,000 ft): <150 s

Armament

• Guns: 1 × 27 mm Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon with 150 rounds
• Hardpoints: Total of 13: 8 × under-wing; and 5 × under-fuselage pylon stations; holding in excess of 9,000 kg (19,800 lb) of payload
  Typical multi-role configuration for a Tranche 2-P1E would be 4 × AMRAAM, 2×ASRAAM/IRIS-T, 4 × EGBU-16/Paveway-IV, 2 × 1000-litre supersonic fuel tanks and a targeting pod.
• Missiles:
  
  • Air-to-air missiles:
    • AIM-120 AMRAAM (AIM-120C-5/7 planned for P2E)
    • AIM-132 ASRAAM
    • AIM-9 Sidewinder
    • IRIS-T
    • MBDA Meteor
  • Air-to-surface missiles:
    • AGM-65 Maverick
    • AGM-88 HARM
    • Brimstone
    • Taurus KEPD 350
    • Storm Shadow/Scalp EG
    • SPEAR 3 (planned)
• Bombs:
  • Paveway II/III/Enhanced Paveway series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs)
  • 500-lb Paveway IV
  • Small Diameter Bomb (planned for P2E)
  • Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), in the future
  • HOPE/HOSBO, in the future
  • Spice 250
• Others:
  • Damocles (targeting pod)
  • LITENING III laser targeting pod
  • Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod
  • Up to 3 × drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time
  • Conformal fuel tanks on Tranche 3 or later

Avionics

• Euroradar CAPTOR Radar
• Passive Infra-Red Airborne Tracking Equipment
• Praetorian DASS