ST Aerospace A-4SU Super Skyhawk

History of ST Aerospace's A-4SU Super Skyhawk

The A-4 Skyhawk first appeared in 1956 as a Douglas Aircraft Company product and was later acquired by McDonnell Douglas. The aircraft played a major role in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and has been produced by operators around the world with approximately 2,960 of them, so it proved to be a success. The US abandoned the 2003 (USN) series and the Israeli Air Force followed suit in 2015 (the trainer version was the last to leave).

Operators that continue to serve the line include Argentina (as a modernized "Fightinghawk"), Brazil and Singapore - the latter operating the final variant known as the Skyhawk.

When the A-4 ended its front-line dominance, Singapore, with the help of U.S. defense industry giant Lockheed Martin, took the initiative to locally modernize and massively upgrade the A-4S it maintains. The cost fell to Singapore Aircraft Industries (SAI) (now ST Aerospace), which produced the updated A-4SU "Super Skyhawk" form. The first flight was recorded on September 19, 1986, and it entered service in 1989. About 150 Skyhawks have been converted to this standard, with the first eight completed by Lockheed Martin, and a special single-seat strike form and two-seat advanced jet trainer form.

Currently (2016) only the latter (A-4SU) is still in service with the RSAF.

Singapore acquired an initial stockpile of 40 Skyhawks from the former US Navy stockpile starting in 1970, and these batches focused on the B and C variants, becoming the "A-4S" in Singapore service. Changes to these earlier machines included the installation of more powerful Wright J65-W-20 turbojets and an updated navigation attack system. Other modifications include an automatic direction finder (ADF) hidden in the dorsal "hump" of the fuselage, an extended nose to accommodate new avionics, and support for the short-range air-to-air missile AIM-9 Sidewinder . AAM).

The 2 x 30mm ADEN cannons on most of these aircraft replaced the original 2 x 20mm Colt Mk 12 cannons. A C model (70) was added in 1980, and a B model (16) was added in 1983, with some remaining as spares and others being converted to S standard.

squeeze more life out of the existing stock of still-useful but aging A-4S airframes (their engines resemble museum pieces rather than proper military propulsion systems - so use spare parts for maintenance and more expensive to repair). increasingly difficult to obtain), a program was implemented in the mid-1980s (1984) to replace the original Wright J65 turbojet with a General Electric F-404-GE-1000D non-afterburner turbofan rated at 10,800 pounds of thrust engine. Avionics packages are also upgraded to more modern standards (AN/APG-145 Mapping and Ranging Radar, Litton LN-93 Series Inertial Navigation Systems, GEC-Ferranti 4510 HUD, BAe Systems MED-2067 Series MFD) Lockheed Martin The company's "Pave Penny" laser seeker system for launching laser-guided munitions.

A new countermeasures (CM) unit was installed, and radar warning receivers (RWR) were added in forward and aft positions to improve the product's survivability on the battlefield.

The plan is divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2. The first stage dealt with turbofan engines, including Grumman and General Electric as the airframe needed to accommodate newer, larger and heavier engines, which also forced major overhauls of the air intakes on the sides of the fuselage. The introduction of the F404 resulted in an immediate 15% increase in straight-line speed due to nearly 30% more power available to the airframe.

This also improves rate of climb (35%) and better initial thrust acceleration (up to 40%).

The first flight of the prototype was completed on 19 September 1986, the new brand entered service in 1989 by 143 Squadron, 142 Squadron and 145 Squadron (in that order), the aircraft also became the Republic of Singapore Air Force ( RSAF) "Black Knight" of the Aerobatic Team. 52 A-4S Skyhawks were converted to the A-4SU "Super Skyhawk" standard.

In Phase 2, Ferranti (BAe Systems) deployed the aforementioned advanced avionics suite.

The "Super Skyhawk" has been in service with the RSAF for over 30 years and is available in two different variants, the "A-4SU" built by the A-4S-1 aircraft and the "TA" built by the A-4S-1 aircraft -4SU" from TA-4S and trainer TA-4S-1. The final trainer table was replaced by an Alenia Aermacchi M-346 "Master" advanced jet trainer of Italian origin (described in detail elsewhere on this site).

When complete, the A-4SU Super Skyhawk has a top speed of 700 mph, a range of up to 2,000 miles with three drop tanks installed, and an operating altitude of up to 40,000 feet. Five hardpoints allow for missiles, guided ordnance, ordnance and missile pods, and provide three locations for fuel tanks.

Specification

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