wilhelmIt definitely looks to be a derivitive of the South African Skua target drone. It has been strongly suggested that the Skua was designed as a cruise missile in South Africa originally during sanctions. The performances of the two, looking at the figures quoted above, are reasonably similar.
The Iranian Lark UAV is also of South African origin BTW.
wilhelmA-Darter successfully launched off SAAF Gripen
Written by Leon Engelbrecht Wednesday, 21 July 2010 10:50
The South African Air Force (SAAF) has successfully test-fired a Denel Dynamics A-Darter fifth-generation short-range imaging infra-red air-to-air missile at the company’s Overberg test range east of Cape Town.
It is the latest step in the development of the R1 billion joint venture between South Africa and Brazil.
Gripen-builder SAAB says the test firing, the first, verified the integration between the missile and the aircraft. Gripen was chosen as the platform for these integration tests and has completed the them with outstanding results, said Ulf Nilsson, responsible for the Gripen program within the Aeronautics division at SAAB. “The test firing is an important milestone in the Gripen programme,” he adds. “The A-Darter missile is a collaboration and development project within the missile area between the local industry, Denel Dynamics, South Africa, and Brazil, where SAAB has a leading role for the integration of complex future missile systems”.
Magnus Reineholm, SAAB project manager for the A-Darter integration added in a statement issued by the aircraft maker that the missile “and the Gripen aircraft have worked beyond our expectations and we are extremely pleased with the test firing results”.
Denel Dynamics CE Jan Wessels says for his company, “as a supplier of advanced guided missile turn-key solutions, it is as important to develop technically advanced missiles as it is to ensure simplicity and ease of integration on multiple aircraft types, since our market focus is on a broad spectrum of potential customer aircraft choices. This attribute of the A-Darter missile is well demonstrated by the successful integration & clearance program on the highly advanced Gripen fighter, and bodes well for the A-Darter missile integration on a variety of further aircraft platforms.”
The SAAF is to fit the missile to its fleet of 24 workhorse BAE Systems Hawk Mk120 lead-in fighter trainers in addition to integrating it on to the 26 more sophisticated Saab Gripen C and D advanced lightweight fighter. Brazil wants the weapon for its FX-2 future fighter programme.
In April Wessels told defenceWeb the weapon, under development since March 2007 was on track and on target for delivery to the SAAF and the Brazilian Air Force from early 2013, now less than three years away. Wessels added training missiles will be delivered from 2012. In March the A-Darter completed its guided flight test. “That’s where you first test it against a target,” Wessels explained in the April interview. “Now everything has to work as a system. What you now do is you have an actual infra-red target in the air, in this case a parachute flare… now you check if everything is working as a system,” he says.
The test followed a series of programme flight tests where the missile had to fly a series of pre-determined routes, or circuits, “and it is very extreme, left, right up down, all the difficult manoeuvres. But it doesn’t engage a target. You are exercising its manoeuvrability. Can it pull the G’s etcetera. That was done by February,” Wessels adds.
“In parallel the so-called integration missiles that went to Saab. So they have in Sweden already integrated the missile with the structure of the aircraft, the mechanical integration of the missile with the aircraft and with the avionics, which is very complex on the Gripen. They conducted a series of flight tests where they flew with this missile in extreme angles of attack up to 12G, (12 times standard earth gravity) and up to 13 700m in altitude to ensure the aircraft wasn’t damaged.” The firing of the missile off the aircraft will be tested as a separate activity but it is these days fairly predictable.
“The rest of the programme is now qualification and industrialisation. So the real technology has all been solved. On a programme like this those were the risks. On a fifth generation missile like this there were many things we had never done. They have all now been ticked off. Now we can increase the reliability and maturity of the system.”
wilhelmI second the request!
wilhelmThe Cheetah had a sophisticated internal EW suite.
It has been announced in the last couple of days that Ecuador is buying 9 Cheetah C’s and/or D’s for $80 million to replace their Mirage III and F1’s. There are more airframes available, so there is the possibility of a follow on purchase, if they need them or can afford them. So quite a timeous thread, Phantom!
I’m unsure what the finer details are, or whether any electronics are to be removed or not from the Cheetah C. I’m also not sure whether the sale includes remaining stocks of V4 R Darter BVRAAM’s. Full article in link below, albeit with a few minor errors….
Ecuador inks Cheetah deal
Date: 30 June 2010Ecuador is to buy nine Denel Cheetah C fighter aircraft for US$80 million, a report from the Latin American country says. Denel could not this morning confirm the deal but said it and Armscor had been listed as the preferred supplier of the single-seat fighters.
Spokeswoman Sinah Phochana said Ecuador had informed the company it was a “preferred supplier” and when Ecuador has completed some “internal processes” it would be asked to submit a request for proposal. News of the sale broke last September when the Engineering News reported the negotiations had been confirmed by Ecuadorian Defence Minister Javier Ponce. Ecuador has, in principle, decided to acquire the Cheetahs, but an actual purchase depended on the outcome of the financial negotiations, the ezine reported.
“Ecuador has budgeted an initial $35-million for this programme, but expects the total costs to be higher,” the publication added. According to an Ecuadorian press report, representatives of Denel offered Cheetahs to Ecuador on August 26, while visiting the Ecuadorean Air Force’s Cotopaxi Air Base.
The SAAF in 2003 operated 28 single-seat C-models and 10 two-seat D`s. By 2005 the total for both types was 29. About that number retired in early 2008 to free funds for the Saab Gripen C and D advanced light fighter aircraft. It is said about 26 of the upgraded Dassault Mirage III fighters remain available for resale along with several more airframes and spares.
http://www.saairforce.co.za/news-and-events/892/ecuador-inks-cheetah-deal
wilhelmSorry to be so picky, I was sure it was a typo but I didn’t want anybody to get the wrong end of the stick given the way these sorts of threads polarize opinion.
You were completely correct. Thanks for pointing it out.:)
wilhelmSorry to be so picky, I was sure it was a typo but I didn’t want anybody to get the wrong end of the stick given the way these sorts of threads polarize opinion.
You were completely correct. Thanks for pointing it out.:)
wilhelmNo, unless I’m very much mistaken, you seemed to be suggesting only those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom should be prosecuted for ‘killing innocent civilians’. But I’m sure that’s not what you meant.
Rubbish. Read my posts again. You are certainly very much mistaken.
Edit: I see. You are quoting what is obviously a typo on my part, as the rest of my posts indicate. I think it’s pretty obvious I mean Unionists and Republicans, as the rest of my posts indicate. My apologies for any confusion.
I’m going to edit that error so that people do not mistake my viewpoint. Thanks for picking it up Creaking Door.
wilhelmNo, unless I’m very much mistaken, you seemed to be suggesting only those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom should be prosecuted for ‘killing innocent civilians’. But I’m sure that’s not what you meant.
Rubbish. Read my posts again. You are certainly very much mistaken.
Edit: I see. You are quoting what is obviously a typo on my part, as the rest of my posts indicate. I think it’s pretty obvious I mean Unionists and Republicans, as the rest of my posts indicate. My apologies for any confusion.
I’m going to edit that error so that people do not mistake my viewpoint. Thanks for picking it up Creaking Door.
wilhelmYou are entitled to your opnion, of clourse, wilhelm, but whereas I wholly endorse your last sentence, I disagree with your other remarks.
Absolutely, Red. They are only my opinions, formed from personal experience that some others may have used to reach different conclusions in life.
wilhelmYou are entitled to your opnion, of clourse, wilhelm, but whereas I wholly endorse your last sentence, I disagree with your other remarks.
Absolutely, Red. They are only my opinions, formed from personal experience that some others may have used to reach different conclusions in life.
wilhelmWilhelm,
Your list is obviously sad to read – 14 families who lost a loved one. But, it is no less or more sad than the list of all other civilans, policemen and soldiers killed in those terrible years by terrorist groups from both sides…..
’tis a sad list indeed that you also posted Bob. I completely and absolutely agree with you. Each person on that list had somebody who loved them and who waited for them to come home the day they never did….. In an ideal world, justice would be served across the divide to any who murdered an innocent. I fear that justice will only be served to some in the next world though…
I also understand the need to answer EGPH, though I fear it then gives the impression of a Balkan-style tit for tat, and which doesn’t then recognize the injustice of this particular event. I must say that I think we all recognize on some level or other that Ireland has had a very raw deal from GB over the centuries, but I now hope that NI can move forward to a glowing era of continued peace.
If we wait long enough, the new generation there will take it forward. Children are amazing creatures. If you feed junk in, you get junk out. I’ve managed so far not to pass on any of my moral defects to my daughter as far as I can tell….
wilhelmWilhelm,
Your list is obviously sad to read – 14 families who lost a loved one. But, it is no less or more sad than the list of all other civilans, policemen and soldiers killed in those terrible years by terrorist groups from both sides…..
’tis a sad list indeed that you also posted Bob. I completely and absolutely agree with you. Each person on that list had somebody who loved them and who waited for them to come home the day they never did….. In an ideal world, justice would be served across the divide to any who murdered an innocent. I fear that justice will only be served to some in the next world though…
I also understand the need to answer EGPH, though I fear it then gives the impression of a Balkan-style tit for tat, and which doesn’t then recognize the injustice of this particular event. I must say that I think we all recognize on some level or other that Ireland has had a very raw deal from GB over the centuries, but I now hope that NI can move forward to a glowing era of continued peace.
If we wait long enough, the new generation there will take it forward. Children are amazing creatures. If you feed junk in, you get junk out. I’ve managed so far not to pass on any of my moral defects to my daughter as far as I can tell….
wilhelmIt is also worth bearing in mind that this was a deeply, politically inspired enquiry and to have found in the British Army’s favour and not to have exonerated those who died, would have been totally unacceptable.
Look Red Hunter, it was always going to be hard to find in favour of armed soldiers firing 100 rounds of 7,62mm NATO into a crowd of unarmed people.
The reason for the enquiry, if we struggle to remain dignified and unpartisanly moral, is that this thing happened. And that the original enquiry couldn’t (wouldn’t) find a verdict of Unlawful Killing. And this has been a source of smoldering resentment since, and a source of international notoriety.
We should always fight injustice, especially in our hearth and home. Next time, it could be yours or my son, daughter, brother or sister.
I personally believe that an injustice has been slightly rectified with the new enquiry. I believe that it was less a political thing, than simply the right thing to do. My big concern is the legal vultures that have enriched themselves over this tragedy.
wilhelmIt is also worth bearing in mind that this was a deeply, politically inspired enquiry and to have found in the British Army’s favour and not to have exonerated those who died, would have been totally unacceptable.
Look Red Hunter, it was always going to be hard to find in favour of armed soldiers firing 100 rounds of 7,62mm NATO into a crowd of unarmed people.
The reason for the enquiry, if we struggle to remain dignified and unpartisanly moral, is that this thing happened. And that the original enquiry couldn’t (wouldn’t) find a verdict of Unlawful Killing. And this has been a source of smoldering resentment since, and a source of international notoriety.
We should always fight injustice, especially in our hearth and home. Next time, it could be yours or my son, daughter, brother or sister.
I personally believe that an injustice has been slightly rectified with the new enquiry. I believe that it was less a political thing, than simply the right thing to do. My big concern is the legal vultures that have enriched themselves over this tragedy.
wilhelmBlue2
It has been suggested that weapons were, er, spirited away from the fallen…
They all might have had a weapon or they all might not have, who knows.
I think that there has been enough covering up over the last 28 years.
The various press photos used at the original enquiry, before and after shots, have already shown certain soldiers guilty of perjury. The testimonies of certain soldiers, as well as eye witnesses, also bear testimony to the fact that the killed were not armed. You may choose to inform yourself about events on this unfortunate day (for both sides), or continue with idle, loose, ill-informed speculation. The material is out there. There is a reason this unfortunate event is notorious world wide.
The fact that many at the front were men is consistent in most countries/cultures in the world IMHO. Certainly all the protest marches I have attended to in an emotional atmosphere have been as such. It is regarded as the fathers or sons job in many cultures to protest against an injustice or iniquity, whether to family or community. And it matters not a whit what their sex is at the end of the day. They were still loved and missed by someone.
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