'Amarok' A giant solitary wolf in Inuit mythology / folklore. The P.1960 is somewhat of a bastard child of the TSR-2 and F-111 conceived in the late 1950s as a twin engined supersonic bomber to replace the Canberra in the air interdiction and strike roles. The aircraft first flew in August of 1965, entering operational service in 1969 with the Lithenian Air Defence Force. The aircraft during development went through a series of 3 different engines, initially McMillan J59 afterburning twin-spool axial-flow turbojets, these were deemed to be underpowered for the aircraft's needs. McMillan then submitted a revised variant of the J59 the J63 (essentially a scaled up J59) this was too rejected, this time on the grounds that the engines didn't have enough growth potential for any future upgrades to the aircraft that may need said upgraded engines. McMillan partnered with Spyker Aeronautics to produce a new design specifically for the P.1960. What emerged was a low bypass afterburning turbofan with a thrust to weight ratio of 6:1 (75kN/16,861lbf dry & 130kN/29,225lbf wet), the new engine was designated the J65. The aircraft first flew with the J63 with flights commencing with the J65 commencing in spring of 1965.
Armament wise the P.1960 was originally envisaged not to carry a gun armament, this was changed early on in the design process however. 2 different types of guns were trialled during development. The 30mm x113 ODEN-30 (ADENs under the guise of Ordnance-Development-and-Evaluation) and the 20mm x102 ODEN-20 (M39s under the ODEN guise). The ODEN-30 was selected for production aircraft with one cannon either side of the nose-wheel. Each gun had 250 rounds being fed from behind the cockpit.
The aircraft as you can see in the drawing has a number of hardpoints for external stores, 13 in fact. The over-wing hardpoints are suitable for AAMs only and in service were rarely fitted other than in times of actual combat. The under-fuselage hardpoints can take tandem launcher units for bombs and stores up-to 500kg in weight or singular 1000kg weapons, the centreline hardpoint is much the same but with a higher load capacity.
Sensor wise the first operational aircraft were fitted with a Trident nav/attack radar, Trident inertial nav system, a combined TFR/autopilot system and a laser designator.
Titbits of the specifications...
Type: Two seat supersonic attack aircraft
Ferry range: 7,000km
Combat radius: 2,250km
Payload: 15,000kg
Service ceiling: 20,000m
Maximum Speed: Mach 2.5 at altitude Mach 0.9 at sea level
ISD/OSD: 1969-2004
Companies involved:
Ravensdale Aviation - The equivalent of BAC post 1960
Trident Aeronautics - Ferranti/Marconi (major electronic and systems producer)
ODEN - Ordnance Development and EvaluatioN Establishment
McMillan Industries - The equivalent of Rolls Royce or Pratt & Whitney.
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Regards, Mark.