Dassault Super Etendard Fighter Jets Modernise 17 Flottille, Landivsiau CEPA Istres. SCO 9108
Deliveries of the Super Étendard to the French Navy started in 1978, with the first squadron, Flottille 11F becoming operational in February 1979. In total, three operational squadrons and a training unit were equipped with the Super Étendard. The Super Étendards would operate from both of France's aircraft carriers at that time, the Clemenceau and the Foch; either carriers' air wing typically comprised 16 Super Étendards, 10 F-8 Crusaders, 3 Étendard IVPs, 7 Breguet Alizé anti-submarine aircraft, as well as numerous helicopters. The first operational missions took place in Lebanon during Operation Olifant. On 22 September 1983, French Navy Super Étendards operating from the Foch bombed and destroyed Syrian forces positions after a few artillery rounds were fired at the French peace keepers. On November 10, a Super Etendard escaped from being hit by a Syrian SA-7 MANPADS near Bourj el-Barajneh while flying over Druze positions. On 17 November 1983, the same airplanes attacked and destroyed an Islamic Amal training camp in Baalbeck after a terrorist attack on French paratroopers in Beirut. Launch from Charles de GaulleFrom 1991, the original combat-orientated Étendard IVMs were withdrawn from French service; though the reconnaissance version of the Étendard IV, the IVP remained in service until July 2000. In response, the Super Étendards underwent a series of upgrades throughout the 1990s to add new capabilities and update existing systems for action in the modern battlefield. Designated Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM), the first combat missions for the type came during NATO's Allied Force operations over Serbia in 1999; it was reported that the flying over 400 combat missions with 73% of the assigned objectives destroyed : the best performance of all the air forces involved in the missions over Serbia.
Size: 5826px × 4198px
Location: RAF Leuchars. St Andrews, Fife. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 552, cannons, carrier, dassault-breguet, defa, maritime, missions, operations, reconnaissance, super, Étendard
