French Navy Dassault -Breguet Atlantic Maritime Patrol Aircraft ATL2 XAV 3976-378
On 9 March 1977, the French government took the decision to launch preliminary design work for the Atlantique 2 definition. The launch of the programme was decided on 23 February 1978. An Atlantic 1 was converted into an ATL2 prototype and flew for the first time on 8 May 1981. A second test aircraft followed on 16 March 1982. In 1984, the French defence minister authorized series production, with the signing of teh first effective production contract on 24 May. The first production Atlantique 2 got airborne on 19 October 1988 in a sortie lasting 2 hours 35 minutes. Jean-Maire Saget was at the controls. Deliveries started (some four months late) on 26 October 1989 at Lann-Bihoué with one aircraft, followed by two in 1990, six each in 1991 and 1992, four in 1993 and the rest in 1994-1998. The last aircraft was handed over on 15 January 1998. Since 1988, Dassault is proposing a further enchanced maritime patrol aircraft, referred to as the Atlantique 3. Technical specifications vary, and until now there have been no takers. The latest chance for the ATL3 is a German/Italian requirement, with a request for proposals expected by the end of 2000. The Atlantique 2 is an updated version of the Dassault-Breguet Atlantic of the 60s. It features a refined structure for better corrosion resistance and entirely new mission systems avionics, incorporating the latest technologies in detection, navigationa and data processing. The architecture is based on a tactical computer with tactical displays and decentralised subsystems, each with their own management and processing computer. Equipment includes: Iguane retractable radar from Thomson-CSF behind cockpit. It can use pulse compression for detecting very small targets even in rough seas Tango FLIR sensor under the nose for day/night detection and identification of surface targets MAD built by Sextant in the tail for location/tracking of submarines ESM Sadang system from Thomson-CSF to process active and passive acoustic data
Size: 5380px × 3573px
Location: RAF Kinloss, Moray. Grampian Region. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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