The Cold War: A MILITARY History (54 page)

Yet another attempt was made to reduce the costs of fighter aircraft in the late 1960s, this time with considerable success, as the outcome was the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. This started life as the YF-16 lightweight fighter for the US air force, but it was then developed by the company and proved so sound a design that it quickly evolved, first into a ‘no-frills’ interceptor, and subsequently into a very effective multi-role fighter. It was ordered for the US air force in 1975, with 2,795 being delivered; others, as described below, were ordered by other NATO countries. The F-16 was armed with a 20 mm Vulcan cannon and carried 5,420 kg of ordnance if the aircraft was to be manoeuvred at its maximum of 9
g
, but an even greater load was possible if restrictions on manoeuvrability were imposed.

Canada

In 1944 Canada became one of the earliest countries to start work on turbojets, and in March 1947 detailed design began on a large, long-range, twin-turbojet interceptor. Designated CF-100, the first prototype flew in 1950 and some 670 aircraft were then built for the Canadian air force, with deliveries starting in 1952. The CF-100 had a maximum speed of 1,060 km/h and a range of some 4,000 km, making it an exceptional aircraft for its time.

Experience with the CF-100 encouraged the Canadian air force and industry to develop an even more ambitious design, the CF-105 Arrow, which, like the CF-100, was a very large, twin-engined, twin-seat interceptor, but this time with delta wings. The first of five prototypes flew in 1958 and immediately demonstrated a very high performance; the production model would have had a maximum speed of 2,100 km/h and a ceiling of 18,300 m, which, with its advanced avionics, placed it ahead of any contemporary Western aircraft in its field.

By early 1959 the programme was going well, with $C300 million already spent and an estimated $C200 million required for completion; anticipated unit cost was $C3.7 million per aircraft. Then, in late February 1959, the Canadian government announced the immediate cancellation of the programme; all aircraft, jigs and tools were immediately destroyed, and some 14,000 workers were laid off. The reason for this sudden change of course, which was a devastating blow to the Canadian aircraft industry, was given as the disappearance of the need for manned interceptors in the missile era.

Such an explanation seemed somewhat hollow (to say the least) when, just two years later, the Canadian air force placed an order for sixty-six US-designed McDonnell F-101 Voodoo twin-seat interceptors, which were built in Canada as the CF-101. Since that time, apart from some Canadian-designed light transports, virtually all aircraft built in Canada have been licence-built US designs.

The UK

At the start of the Cold War the UK was second only to the USA as an aviation power, and considerable resources were lavished on the aircraft industry’s survival. The British actually developed a turbojet engine before the USA, and the Gloster Meteor twin-jet fighter entered service in 1944, followed by the de Havilland Vampire single-jet fighter in 1946, both of which were exported to several NATO air arms in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The Meteor and Vampire then provided the backbone of the British air force’s fighter force for a decade, while a series of swept-wing designs was developed, culminating in the Hawker Hunter, which entered service, after lengthy delays, in 1957. Once its problems had been resolved it proved to be an effective and popular interceptor and ground-attack aircraft, and a total of 1,525 were manufactured in the UK and a further 381 in Belgium (192)
and
the Netherlands (189). Thirty Hunters were exported direct to Denmark, and many more to non-NATO countries.

In the 1950s the British judged the major air threat to the UK to be from high-flying Soviet bombers armed with atomic weapons, for which the answer was an extremely fast-climbing, short-range interceptor. Several different prototypes were built and tested, but the English Electric Lightning was selected; this could reach 12,000 m in under 2.5 minutes, and had a ceiling of 18,000 m. It was originally armed with both air-to-air missiles and cannon, but the latter were deleted in later marks. The Lightning entered service with the British air force in 1961 and was deployed in both the UK and Germany, but, although popular with its pilots, it was not bought by any other NATO nation.

In March 1957 the British Air Staff produced an operational requirement for a new aircraft to replace the Canberra, which was in service in large numbers as the air force’s standard light bomber. The aircraft, designated TSR-2 (TSR = tactical strike/reconnaissance), was to be an all-weather, autonomous aircraft, capable of operating at high subsonic speed at very low level, the number required being 138. Numerous initial bids were received, including one, which was rejected out of hand, from Blackburn Ltd for a land-based version of the Buccaneer carrier-based bomber, then under development for the British navy. In 1960 a development contract was awarded to the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation. In 1962 the total programme cost was estimated at £220 million, but this had risen to £272 million in October 1964 and to an extraordinary £750 million in April 1965, when the recently elected Labour government cancelled the entire project. A further echo of the Canadian CF-105 debacle was that all jigs and tools were destroyed, although, as a result of subterfuge, one aircraft survived.

A provisional order was then placed for the American F-111, but this too was cancelled, in January 1968. The yawning gap in air-force capabilities was then filled in two ways. To meet the tactical-fighter requirement, orders were placed for the F-4 Phantom. For the long-range-interdiction, Canberra-replacement role, the Buccaneer (which had been so summarily rejected twelve years previously) was selected as the ‘interim’ solution, while the long-term requirement would be met by a totally new Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA), which eventually became the Tornado. The TSR-2 was, however, to be the last major British national project, and the MRCA was planned from the outset as a multinational collaborative programme.

France

The French aviation industry made a quite remarkable recovery following the Second World War, and after a decade during which the air force had to depend on US and British aircraft the French air force has been equipped
with
French or French-led collaborative designs. French designs included the very successful Mystère and Mirage fighters, while collaborative programmes included the Jaguar with the British and the Transall transport and the Alphajet trainer with West Germany.

INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

Some NATO countries had no history of aircraft design and production, and did not wish to establish such a capability during the Cold War; they were therefore content to place orders with the USA or other European countries for existing designs. Such countries included Denmark, Norway and Portugal, and also West Germany until it had re-established its own aircraft industry. For those that wished either to maintain an existing domestic capability or to set up a new one, however, the design, development and production of advanced fighter aircraft became prohibitively expensive on a domestic basis, leaving two possible choices: one was to produce a foreign design under licence; the other was to collaborate with one or more other countries to design and develop a new aircraft.

Production under Licence

One of the earliest co-production deals concerned the British Hawker Hunter fighter, 445 of which were manufactured in Belgium and the Netherlands for their respective air forces in the late 1950s.

The next major licence-production project concerned the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which first flew in 1954 and which, despite having been bought in small numbers by the USAF and regarded by it as too dangerous, went on to become very important to NATO. The F-104 was designed to maximize performance, and, with a top speed of 2,330 km/h and a ceiling of 17,680 m (27,400 m in a ‘zoom’), it certainly achieved that. Unfortunately, it did so by having a long body and two tiny, very thin wings, resulting in an aircraft which, by the standards of the day, was hard to fly and ‘hot’ (i.e. fast) on landing. Despite this, a NATO production programme was set up, which involved factories in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Between them these factories produced no less than 1,445 aircraft for service with NATO air forces: Belgium 101, Canada 200, Denmark 40, Germany 749, Greece 45, Italy 125, the Netherlands 120, Norway 19 and Turkey 46. In its early years the difficult handling and a number of accidents gave the F-104 a bad reputation, and what appeared to be excessive losses became a matter of major public concern, especially in the
Luftwaffe
. In its later years, however, the F-104 had an accident rate no worse than any other type.

The Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter was built under licence in Canada as the CF-5 for the Canadian forces (240 built) and as the NF-5 for the Dutch
air
force (102 built). The types entered service with Canada in 1968 and in the Netherlands in 1969.

Apart from being purchased in large numbers by the USAF, the General Dynamics F-16 was also selected by a consortium of European air arms in what was termed the ‘sale of the century’, which led to additional production lines being established in Belgium and the Netherlands. Deliveries were Belgium 128, Denmark 70, the Netherlands 100 and Norway 42. The USAF and these four European air forces subsequently co-operated in the F-16 Operational Capabilities Upgrade (OCU) programme in the 1980s, which resulted in much improved avionics, electronics and weapons fits.

Multinational Collaboration

The second path was multinational collaboration in design and development, as well as in production, sometimes under the auspices of NATO, but sometimes as a government-to-government deal in which NATO had little or no involvement. One of the early attempts at a common solution to a NATO problem was the competition announced in December 1953 for a light attack aircraft, in which all continental European air forces had expressed an interest. There were three entries from France and one from Italy, but when the latter was judged the winner the French withdrew from the entire project. In the event, all but two air forces withdrew, and the Italian entry, the Fiat G91, was ordered only by the Italian (174) and German (438) air forces, with manufacture taking place in both countries.

The Jaguar was an Anglo-French project to produce a dual-role tactical-support aircraft and advanced trainer, although, in the event, only a few two-seat aircraft were produced and the majority were strike aircraft. The first flight was in 1968, and each country purchased 200 aircraft.

One of the most successful military collaborative programmes was the Panavia Tornado (originally known as the Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA)), which was produced by a consortium comprising British Aircraft Corporation (42.5 per cent), Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (42.5 per cent) and Aeritalia (15 percent).
^fn1
The engine was also a collaborative effort between Rolls-Royce (UK; 40 per cent), MTU (Germany; 40 per cent) and Fiat (20 per cent). The project began in 1968, the first prototype flew in 1974, and the aircraft entered service in 1982. The basic swing-wing multi-role aircraft (the Tornado IDS – i.e. interdictor/strike) was designed to conduct attack, interdiction and reconnaissance missions, but there were also two specialized versions: one for electronic combat and reconnaissance
(ECR)
, the other an air-defence (i.e. fighter) version (ADV). Production totalled 929 – 697 IDS, 35 ECR and 195 ADV – all of which went to the air forces, except for 112 of the IDS version which went to the German navy. Collaboration in design and production was mirrored in other fields, with the aircrew being trained at a trinational unit in the UK, while logistics support was controlled by the NATO MRCA Maintenance Agency (NAMMA). Although the programme was not without its complications, overall it was a major success, proving that European nations could co-operate on a very advanced technical project. The aircraft demonstrated its combat capabilities in the Gulf War, showing an unrivalled ability to carry a huge range of underwing stores and to fly at high speed at very low levels.

The Two-Way Street

Although the US imported or manufactured under licence a wide range of aircraft components and engines, there were only two major examples of European aircraft being adopted by the US armed forces – both of them British. The English Electric Canberra, which first flew in 1949, was a very successful twin-engined light bomber which was produced in large numbers for the British air force. It was also adopted by the USAF as the B-57, becoming the first foreign aircraft to be procured in large numbers since 1918: 403 were manufactured under licence by the Martin company.

The other example was the British Aerospace Harrier V/STOL fighter, which used a turbojet with rotating nozzles to achieve vertical/short take-off and landing. The original prototype (designated P. 1127) first flew in 1960, and a trinational (German, UK, US) air-force squadron was established to ascertain the potential of this revolutionary concept. In the event neither the German nor the US air forces placed an order, but a completely redesigned aircraft was then adopted by the British air force, with a prototype flying in 1967 and service entry as the Harrier GR.Mk 1 in 1969. The US Marine Corps became interested in the type in 1968, and this was followed by an initial order for twelve. The type was then manufactured under licence as the AV-8A by McDonnell Douglas in the United States. Later McDonnell Douglas became the leading partner in development of the AV-8B, which was procured in large numbers by the US Marine Corps and in smaller numbers by the British air force and the Italian and Spanish navies.

The US armed forces have placed other, but much smaller, orders for non-US aircraft. The largest of these orders concerned the series of light, rugged, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft produced by de Havilland of Canada, including 959 single-engined L-20 Beavers, 202 of the larger, single-engined U-1 Otter and 10 of the twin-engined Twin Otter. The US army also bought 159 of the twin-engined, thirty-two-passenger CV-2 Caribou, but these had to handed over to the USAF in 1967 when the latter took responsibility for large fixed-wing aircraft. The US army also
helped
to pay for development of the larger UC-8 Buffalo, but, because of the deal with the USAF, no orders were forthcoming. Later de Havilland STOL types were bought by the US armed forces, but only in very small numbers: three DHC-7 ‘Dash Seven’ by the US army, and two DHC-8 ‘Dash Eight’ by the USAF. Other US purchases from NATO partners included twenty-eight British Short C-23s for the US army and National Guard, and ten Italian Alenia G.222 twin-engined C-27A transports for the USAF.