Dassault-Breguet Br.1150 (Atlantique 2)

Dassault Breguet Br. 1150 (Atlantic 2) History

France's Air Breguet was awarded a NATO-sponsored contract in 1958 to design, develop and produce a new purpose-built airframe to replace the Lockheed P-2 Neptune for long-range maritime reconnaissance missions in the 1940s. No fewer than nine contractors submitted approximately 24 competing designs, and the final selected design became the Breguet Br. 1150 "Atlantic".

The prototype flew for the first time on October 21, 1961. After successfully testing two complete prototypes, a pair of pre-production mass brackets arrived (initially in France and Germany) before being officially commissioned in 1965.

The Atlantic has since served in the navies of France (as "Atlantic"), Italy (with Luftwaffe pilots), Germany, the Netherlands and Pakistan. A modernized form of the French Navy has emerged as the "Atlantic 2" (see below).

The first operators of the series were the French and German navies, who were awarded contracts for the 40 and 20 Atlantic respectively in 1963 through Breguet's initial batch order. Deliveries of these airframes to customers began in 1965 and ended in 1968. Follow-up orders shortly thereafter included deliveries of the aircraft to the Netherlands and Italy, with delivery in 1974.

Production was carried out by a European consortium led by Breguet's own "Societe d'Etude et de Construction de Breguet Atlantic" (aka "SECBAT"). In addition to these European powers, Pakistan received three ex-Frances in the Atlantic Navy in the 1970s.

Externally, the Atlantic Collection relies heavily on traditional design. The fuselage is deliberately designed so low that a "dual beam" function is used to pressurize the upper air bag (containing the flight deck and crew compartment) and depressurize the lower air bag (which houses the weapons bay/mission device area) . This promotes a high-mounted flight deck and short nose assembly, and gives the fuselage a slender twin-tube shape when viewed in forward section. The porthole windows are distributed along the sides of the fuselage for easy viewing from the aircraft, while the cockpit windows are all fixed in place to provide good forward and side views of the aircraft. The fuselage tapers at the tail and uses a stinger-type tail. The wing is a straight monoplane design, mounted low on the side of the fuselage, with a system sleeve covering its tip.

The engines are housed in forwardly protruding streamlined nacelles along the leading edge of the wing. Each engine drives a four-bladed propeller assembly. The empennage consists of a vertical fin (covered by another streamlined gearbox) and an upwardly sloping horizontal plane mounted high on the fuselage. The landing gear is fully retractable and consists of a pair of two-wheeled main legs on each engine nacelle and front legs in the front.

Airborne anti-surface warfare (ASW) equipment is sourced from the United States, while the radar is provided by a Thomson-CSF/Thales search radar mounted on a retractable dome structure. The FLIR is finally installed on the handpiece.

As an anti-ship and anti-submarine combat vehicle for naval warfare, the Atlantic series can be equipped as required with torpedoes (up to 8 x Mk 46 / 7 x Murene series), depth charges, mines and conventionally thrown bombs - these are kept inside decompressed in the bomb bay. In addition, if necessary, the aircraft can also drop special mission equipment (such as buoys). Late modernization of the French Navy in the 1980s (to the "Atlantic 2" standard) added support for guided anti-ship missiles (2 x AM 39 Exocet or 2 x AS 37 Martel) and laser-guided bombs, while retaining conventional torpedo/bomb delivery ability.

Four external underwing mount points further expand the crew's weapon options.

After a long period of service, the series suffered several high-profile operational losses, prompting the Dutch Navy to ground its fleet for a period in 1981. At least three people were missing during a routine patrol over the Atlantic Ocean. Five German Atlantics have been upgraded to ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) brackets to meet the new requirements. In 1978, France continued to provide operational support for the aircraft and modernized its fleet. The aircraft is now equipped with the latest detection and scanning equipment and is ready for modern anti-ship missiles.

The airframe and engines remain largely unchanged, although avionics have been upgraded and require a new pilot and crew training program. Two prototypesthe first flew in 1981preceded this new production model, which eventually came into effect in 1988. By this time, Breguet had merged with Dassault in 1971, so all future Atlantic aircraft would operate under the new Dassault brand label. Eventually, France became the sole operator of the new Atlantic form, giving them the simple name "Atlantic 2". The German and Italian "Atlantic 3" program (powered by 2 Rolls-Royce AE 2100H turboprops and new avionics and mission systems) appears to have failed.

Delivery of the Atlantique 2 aircraft was completed in 1998.

French losses in the Atlantic/Atlantic include an exhibit at Farnborough on September 20, 1968, in which all six crew members were killed. This was followed by an incident on May 18, 1986, when 19 French naval personnel were killed while flying over Djibouti, their plane disappearing into clouds that enveloped a mountain.

On August 10, 1999, the Pakistan Navy lost 16 Atlantic sailors in a battle with an Indian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21Bis interceptor.

Structurally, the Atlantic 2 has a barrel length of 103 feet 9 inches, a wingspan of 122 feet 9.25 inches, and a height of 35 feet 8.75 inches. The wing area is 1,295 square feet. Curb weight is reported at 56,660 pounds, with a maximum takeoff weight of 101,850 pounds.

The aircraft is normally operated by twelve employees.

Atlantique 2 is powered by 2 x Rolls-Royce Tyne RTy. 20 Mk 21 series (twin shaft) turboprop engines, 6,100 hp each. Performance specifications include a top speed of 400 mph, a cruising speed of 200 mph, a ferry range of 5,635 mph and a mission duration of up to 18 hours (depending on mission load). Aircraft can travel at up to 30,000 feet by using pressurized cabins and flight decks.

The reported rate of climb was 2,900 feet per minute.

The production of the Atlantic series of aircraft ran from 1961 to 1987, when 87 x Atlantic models and 28 Atlantique 2 aircraft were produced. Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Germany have retired their fleets of Atlantic aircraft in exchange for the American Lockheed P-3 Orion.

For the time being (2013), the existing fleet of French Ocean Atlantic 2 is the target of a major modernization by the French authorities to allow long-range and long-range aircraft to serve army support, anti-piracy operations and patrol vital aircraft to Continue on the French route. Thales and Dassault are responsible for the operation, which is scheduled to begin sometime in 2013. If the French budget allows, the effort would extend the tactical utility of the Atlantic II for a decade or more.

Its value in Mali helps justify the aircraft's worth to the ongoing French military operation. Elsewhere, competing American Boeing P-8 Poseidon planes are poised to serve many former P-3 Orion operators -- as long as the price is right.

So far (2013) only the US and India have committed to this type.

Dassault-Breguet Br. 1150 (Atlantique 2) Specification

BASICS

MANUFACTURING

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WEIGHTS

POWER

PERFORMANCE

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