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French Navy / Marine Nationale Dassault Super Etendard |
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The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard
(Étendard is French for "battle flag", cognate to English
"standard") is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft
designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy. The aircraft is an advanced development of the Étendard IVM, which it replaced. The Super Étendard first flew in October 1974 and entered French service in June 1978. French Super Étendards have served in several conflicts such as the Kosovo war, the war in Afghanistan and the military intervention in Libya. The Super Étendard was also operated by Iraq (on a temporary lease) and Argentina, which both deployed the aircraft during wartime. Argentina's use of the Super Étendard and the Exocet missile during the 1982 Falklands War led to the aircraft gaining considerable popular recognition. The Super Étendard was used by Iraq to attack oil tankers and merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq-Iran War. In French service, the Super Étendard was replaced by the Dassault Rafale in 2016. Development: The Super Étendard is a development of the earlier Étendard IVM which had been developed in the 1950s. The Étendard IVM was originally to have been replaced by a navalised version of the SEPECAT Jaguar, designated as the Jaguar M; however the Jaguar M project was stalled by a combination of political problems and issues experienced during trial deployments on board carriers. Specifically, the Jaguar M had suffered handling problems when being flown on a single engine and a poor throttle response time that made landing back on a carrier after an engine failure difficult. In 1973, all development work on the Jaguar M was formally cancelled by the French government. There were several proposed aircraft to replace the Jaguar M, including the LTV A-7 Corsair II and the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Dassault pulled some strings with the French government and produced its own proposal to meet the requirement. According to Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, Dassault had played a significant role in the cancellation of the Jaguar M with the aim of creating a vacancy for their own proposal - the Super Étendard. The Super Étendard was essentially an improved version of the existing Étendard IVM, outfitted with a more powerful engine, a new wing and improved avionics. Dassault sold its plane as only candidate 100% French and cheaper than other options, as it used modern technology already used in existing Dassault planes. Dassault's Super Étendard proposal was accepted by the French Navy in 1973, leading to a series of prototypes being quickly assembled. The first of three prototypes to be built, an Étendard IVM which had been modified with the new engine and some of the new avionics, made its maiden flight on 28 October 1974. The original intention of the French Navy was to order a total of 100 Super Étendards, however the order placed was for 60 of the new model with options for a further 20; further budget cuts and an escalation in the aircraft's per unit price eventually led to only 71 Super Étendards being purchased. Dassault began making deliveries of the type to the French Navy in June 1978. In the first year of production, 15 Super Étendards were produced for the French Navy, allowing the formation of the first squadron in 1979. Dassault produced the aircraft at a rough rate of two per month. Design: The Super Étendard is a small, single-engined, mid-winged aircraft with an all-metal structure. Both the wings and tailplane are swept, with the folding wings having a sweepback of about 45 degrees, while the aircraft is powered by a non-afterburning SNECMA Atar 8K-50 turbojet with a rating of 49 kN (11,025 lbf). Its performance was not much better than the Étendard IV, but its avionics were significantly improved. The main new weapon of the Super Étendard was the French anti-shipping missile, the Aérospatiale AM 39 Exocet. The aircraft had a Thomson-CSF Agave radar which, amongst other functions, was essential to launch the Exocet missile. One of the major technical advances of the Super Étendard was its onboard UAT-40 central computer; this managed most mission-critical systems, integrating navigational data and functions, radar information and display, and weapons targeting and controls. In the 1990s, significant modifications and upgrades were made to the type, including an updated UAT-90 computer and a new Thomson-CSF Anemone radar which provided nearly double the range of the previous Agave radar. Other upgrades at this time included an extensively redesigned cockpit with HOTAS controls, and airframe life-extension work was undertaken; a total of 48 aircraft received these upgrades, at a rate of 15 per year. During the 2000s, further improvements included significantly improved self-defence ECM capability to better evade enemy detection and attacks, cockpit compatibility with night vision goggles, a new inertial data system partly integrating GPS, and compatibility with the Damocles Laser designator pod. The Super Étendard could also deploy tactical nuclear weapons; initially these were unguided gravity bombs only, however, during the 1990s the Super Étendard was extensively upgraded, enabling the deployment of the Air-Sol Moyenne Portée, a ramjet-powered air-launched nuclear missile. The aircraft was also refitted with the ability to operate a range of laser-guided bombs and, to enable the type to replace the retiring Étendard IV in the reconnaissance mission, the Super Étendard was fitted to carry a specialist reconnaissance pod as well. However, the aircraft is unable to perform naval landings without jettisoning unexpended ordnance. History: Deliveries of the Super Étendard to the French Navy started in 1978, with the first squadron, Flottille 11F becoming operational in February 1979. As they offered no air combat capabilities France had to extend useful life of its Crusaders fighters, as no replacement option was found. In total, three operational squadrons and a training unit were equipped with the Super Étendard. The Super Étendards would operate from both of France's aircraft carriers at that time, Clemenceau and Foch; either carrier's air wing typically comprised 16 Super Étendards, 10 F-8 Crusaders, 3 Étendard IVPs, 7 Breguet Alizé anti-submarine aircraft, as well as numerous helicopters. The first fighting operational missions took place in Lebanon during Operation Olifant. On 22 September 1983, French Navy Super Étendards operating from Foch bombed and destroyed Syrian forces positions after a few artillery rounds were fired at the French peace keepers. On November 10, a Super Étendard escaped from being hit by a Syrian SA-7 shoulder-launched missile near Bourj el-Barajneh while flying over Druze positions. On 17 November 1983, the same airplanes attacked and destroyed an Islamic Amal training camp in Baalbeck after a terrorist attack on French paratroopers in Beirut. From 1991, the original pure attack Étendard IVMs were withdrawn from French service; though the reconnaissance version of the Étendard IV, the IVP, remained in service until July 2000. In response, the Super Étendards underwent a series of upgrades throughout the 1990s to add new capabilities and update existing systems for use in the modern battlefield. Designated Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM), the first combat missions for the type came during NATO's Allied Force operations over Serbia in 1999; it was reported that over 400 combat missions were flown with 73% of the assigned objectives destroyed, the best performance of all the air forces involved in the missions over Serbia. The SEM also flew strike missions in Operation Enduring Freedom. Mission Héraclès starting 21 November 2001 saw the deployment of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its Super Étendards in Afghanistan. Operation Anaconda, starting on 2 March 2002 saw extensive use of the Super Étendard in support of French and allied ground troops. Super Étendards returned to operations over Afghanistan in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010-2011. One of their main roles was to carry laser designation pods to illuminate targets for Dassault Rafales. In March 2011, Étendards were deployed as a part of Task Force 473, during France's Opération Harmattan in support of UN resolution 1973 during the Libyan conflict. They were paired again with Dassault Rafales on interdiction missions. The final Super Étendards in French naval aviation were in one "flottille" (squadron) called flottille 17F. All Super Étendards were retired from French service on 12 July 2016 to be replaced by the Dassault Rafale M, 42 years after the subsonic attack jet performed its first flight. The Super Étendard's last operational deployment from Charles de Gaulle was in support of Opération Chammal against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, which began in late 2015. On 16 March 2016, the aircraft undertook its final launch from Charles de Gaulle ahead of its final withdrawal from service in July. Specifications: Crew: 1 Length: 14.31 m (46 ft 11 in) Wingspan: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) Height: 3.86 m (12 ft 8 in) Wing area: 28.4 m2 (306 sq ft) Empty weight: 6,500 kg (14,330 lb) Max takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,455 lb) Powerplant: 1 x Snecma Atar 8K-50 turbojet, 49 kN (11,000 lbf) thrust Maximum speed: 1,205 km/h (749 mph, 651 kn) Range: 1,820 km (1,130 mi, 980 nmi) Combat range: 850 km (530 mi, 460 nmi) with one AM39 Exocet missile on one wing pylon and one drop tank on opposite pylon, hi-lo-hi profile Service ceiling: 13,700 m (44,900 ft) Rate of climb: 100 m/s (20,000 ft/min) Wing loading: 423 kg/m2 (87 lb/sq ft) Thrust/weight: 0.42 Armament: Guns: 2 x 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannons with 125 rounds per gun Hardpoints: 4 x underwing and 2 x under-fuselage with a capacity of 2,100 kg (4,600 lb) maximum Rockets: 4 x Matra rocket pods with 18 x SNEB 68 mm rockets each Missiles: 1 x AM-39 Exocet Anti-shipping missile or 1 x Air-Sol Moyenne Portée nuclear armed missile or 2 x AS-30L or 2 x Matra Magic Air-to-air missile Bombs: Conventional unguided or laser-guided bombs, provision for 1 x AN-52 free-fall nuclear bomb, provision for "buddy" air refuelling pod source: wikipedia |
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 Super Etendard - 1  Super Etendard - 1  Super Etendard - 1  Super Etendard - 2  Super Etendard - 8  Super Etendard - 8  Super Etendard - 8 with 5 other Super Etendards and 2 Etendard IVM's (32 + 51)  Super Etendard - 10  Super Etendard - 13  Super Etendard - 13  Super Etendard - 13  Super Etendard - 13  Super Etendard - 15  Super Etendard - 15  Super Etendard - 17  Super Etendard - 31 - with an AM39 Exocet missile loaded  Super Etendard - 32  Super Etendard - 35  Super Etendard - 37 Super Etendard - 38 + 2  Super Etendard - 39  Super Etendard - 39  Super Etendard - 41  Super Etendard - 44  Super Etendard - 44  Super Etendard - 46  Super Etendard - 47 + 23  Super Etendard - 49  Super Etendard - 49  Super Etendard - 51  Super Etendard - 51  Super Etendard - 51  Super Etendard - 51  Super Etendard - 52  Super Etendard - 52  Super Etendard - 54  Super Etendard - 59  Super Etendard - 31, 32, 35 + 18  Super Etendard - 31, 32, 35 + 18  Super Etendard - 31, 32, 35 + 18  Super Etendard - 64 + 101 with an US Navy F-14 Tomcat   Super Etendard - 48, 9 + 40  Super Etendard - in special painting  Super Etendard - cockpit view |
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