Dassault / Dornier |
Alpha Jet . |
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Photo:
Robert Deering 4/9/2019 Technik Museum Speyer, Germany |
The Dassault/Dornier
Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and
advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault
Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of
Germany. It was developed specifically to
perform the trainer and light attack
missions, as well as to perform these duties
more ideally than the first generation of
jet trainers that preceded it. Following a
competition, a design submitted by a team
comprising Breguet Aviation, Dassault
Aviation, and Dornier Flugzeugwerke,
initially designated as the TA501,
was selected and subsequently produced as
the Alpha Jet. Both the French Air
Force and German Air Force procured the
Alpha Jet in large numbers, the former
principally as a trainer aircraft and the
latter choosing to use it as a light attack
platform. As a result of post-Cold
Warmilitary cutbacks, Germany elected to
retire its own fleet of Alpha Jets in the
1990s and has re-sold many of these aircraft
to both military and civilian operators. The
Alpha Jet has been adopted by a number of
air forces across the world and has also
seen active combat use by some of these
operators. This left the
original requirement unfulfilled; as a
result of this outcome, in 1967, France
entered into a series of discussions with
West Germany on the topic of a prospective
collaboration effort to meet this
demand. West Germany was keen to participate
in such talks, having long held an interest
in conducting joint training operations with
France along with a desire for strengthening
positive political relations between the two
nations. France also valued military
cooperation with West Germany, wanting to
break a perceived German ideological
preference for American aircraft. In 1968, a
joint specification was produced out of
these talks. One substantial change to the
requirements was that the sought trainer was
now specified to be subsonic, supersonic
trainer aircraft having proven to be
superfluous to practical requirements. In
July 1969, a joint development and
production agreement was signed between West
Germany and France; under the terms of this
agreement, the two nations committed to
purchasing 200 aircraft, these being
domestically assembled in each of their own
countries. At one point, both
the German government and the German Air
Force had been keen to relocate pilot
training activities from the United States
to France as part of the project. In 1971,
however, this was abandoned over fears of a
hostile US reaction and West Germany's
offset obligations to the United States
making such a move unpalatable. While the
joint Franco-German training proposal was
abandoned, the German government felt
obligated to proceed with the aircraft
program; at the time, Germany did not
require a new trainer aircraft, but it did
have a need for a replacement for its fleet
of Fiat G.91 attack aircraft. Accordingly,
Germany proposed that the aircraft be built
in two distinct versions, as an inexpensive
trainer for the French requirement, and as
a close air support platform for the German
requirement; this position was accepted by
France. An initial point of contention
whether to use a French or American
powerplant for the aircraft was also
settled, with France agreeing to solely
finance the development of the French-built
Larzac engine while Germany agreed to adopt
the same powerplant. A total of three
groups of manufacturers produced proposals
in response to the requirement; these were
Dassault, Breguet and Dornier submitted the
"TA501", which had been developed through a
merger of the Breguet 126 and Dornier P.375
concepts, VFW-Fokker submitted their "VFT-291"
aircraft, while SNIAS/MBB submitted the "E.650
Eurotrainer". Each of these proposals were
to be powered by twin SNECMA Turbomeca
Larzac turbofan engines. The German Air
Force had insisted that the trainer have two
engines after having suffered from severe
aircraft attrition rates due to the high
accident rate of the single-engine Lockheed
F-104 Starfighter.
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